Ode to Carrots
by CarnelianFox
Summary: While Judy and Nick are on patrol, Judy spots Nick writing something on a yellow piece of paper. When she finally reads it, her relationship with Nick changes forever. When Nick's mother gets kidnapped shortly after, can Judy keep Nick from spiraling into turmoil as his past rears its ugly head?
1. The Poem

**I do not own Zootopia. I just saw it and I must say it is awesome! Everything about it is pure genius! For those of you who haven't seen it and think it's just another animated talking animal movie, take my advice: turn off the computer, get in your car, go to the nearest movie theatre, and watch it! It's a masterpiece, through and through! Also,** **do not** **read this if you have not seen the movie as it takes place shortly** **after the events of the movie** **.**

 **I especially liked the chemistry between Judy and Nick as characters. Their bond as a pair of protagonists is so deep and moving, yet light and humorous!**

 **Okay, enough out of me. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 1: The Poem**

Judy Hopps was driving in her police car with her partner, Nick Wilde, in the passenger seat. Out of the corner of her violet eyes, she spotted him scribbling on a sheet of yellow lined paper, using an old case folder as an impromptu desk. The curious bunny asked, "What's that you have there, Nick?"

"Eyes on the road, Carrots," the sly fox replied, naturally using his pet name for Judy.

Judy, rolling her eyes, kept on driving and decided to let sleeping dogs lie. They were on patrol duty in the heart of the city. She sighed dreamily, saying, "You know, I think it's the world's imperfections that make life so perfect. I mean, sure, real life is messy and not some dream, but that's what makes it so worth it!"

"Yeah. If life were perfect, we'd be out of jobs," Nick added nonchalantly. "I guess you've always got the carrot farm to go back to."

"Do I love my family? Yes, but not a chance," Judy firmly responded and eased up to a red light.

"Hey, you're getting better at this," Nick told her with a mischievous smirk.

"Shut up…" Judy said flatly. "I'm a good driver."

"A cute one, too."

"What?"

"Nothing!"

They had finished their patrol shift and went back to HQ, all the while Judy remained curious of that yellow piece of paper. Nick read it to himself and grinned in satisfaction. He folded it and put it in his back pocket, right next to the base of his bushy tail. He told the rabbit, "I'm going to go clock us out, okay?"

With that, he walked off. Judy was almost hypnotized as she watched his fluffy tail sway from side to side as he walked. What broke her trance was seeing his tail inadvertently knock the paper out of his back pocket. She was about to say something to him, but it was also her chance to solve the mystery of the day: what was Nick writing?

Cautiously, without alerting him of her presence, she snatched up the folded yellow paper and unfolded it. What she read blew her away. It was a poem.

 _As a predator, I'm not normally into carrots_

 _But when you broke through my shell, I just couldn't bear it_

 _Your ears are huge and so is your heart_

 _It was because of you that I could have a fresh start_

 _My view of the world was broken, but with a soul so pure_

 _You were my much-needed cure_

 _You're my panacea, my friend, my partner, my muse_

 _When the world rejected me, you saw I had use_

 _Even a stormy night is a sunny day_

 _Because you don't let anything get in your way_

 _You know, Carrots, you're a timeless girl_

 _You didn't just cure it; you are my world_

Judy found herself crying tears of happiness as she read the last two lines. Everything about the poem was so deep, so heartfelt, and so…Nick. She had felt for a time that they were more than just a duo of cops who had great quips. There was something about their bond that she couldn't shake, not even with her cotton tail. She didn't want to shake it either. Smiling, she wiped her eyes and chuckled to herself.

"You…didn't happen to read that, did you?" an all-too-familiar voice asked her carefully. Judy, after wiping her tears away, saw Nick's paws and the tip of his tail. As her eyes wandered upward, more of his form came into view. He didn't look betrayed. No, betrayed wasn't the right word. He was shocked.

"I did. Nick, it's so beautiful! It made me feel happy and significant and—" Judy started to review his poem excitedly.

"You weren't supposed to read it. I was going to read it to you, Carrots…or do you prefer Judy?" Nick sighed in disappointment.

"I've grown to like Carrots. Well…only if it's you that will call me Carrots. After all, you do have a thing for me and it would be just plain rude of me to correct you at this point," Judy replied with a mischievous smirk.

"C'mon, I do not. I never said that I have a thing for you," Nick said defensively.

"Actually, you did. I don't need my recorder pen this time," Judy told him as she waved the yellow piece if lined paper in his face as a reminder. "It's called a hustle, sweetheart. You want this back, don't you?"

"Yes," Nick answered and snatched at it, but the quick bunny held it away from him.

"Uh-uh-uh!" Judy said teasingly. "I want it, too. It makes me feel loved here in the big city."

"C'mon, I need that! Besides, everyone loves you! You're a great cop and you're nice to everyone but the perps!" Nick grumbled as he tried to get it again, only to be outmaneuvered.

"Everyone includes you. What do you call the poem, anyway?" Judy asked curiously.

"'Ode to Carrots'!" Nick answered in frustration as he tried to get the paper back again.

"That has a nice ring to it," Judy complimented as she hid the paper behind her back. Nick wrapped his arms around her in an effort to get his poem back, but then they both realized that he was technically hugging her. Flustered, Judy's voice softened, barely mustering, "Oh, Nick…"

Slowly, Nick secured his hold on Judy and stood up, wrapping his tail around her in the process. Judy felt her heart race, not in fear or anguish, but in excitement. Nick's lime green eyes softened. Judy felt those happy tears come on again. They spilled out of her like a waterfall. He asked with a voice full of gentleness and compassion, "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing…" Judy sniffled as the fox held her closer. "It's just…I think… I feel the same way…and I could never write anything so beautiful for you…"

"I bet you could, but you don't need to. You're a great speaker. I mean you did kind of start a whole segregation movement by accident, but we all make mistakes. Everything you've said and done has been true to your beliefs. Ever since I've known you, I've been able to attest to that. I think that's what I like most about you, you honest bunny," Nick affectionately disagreed with her statement. "So when you say you feel the same way, I'll believe you. As long as it's honest, it doesn't have to be flashy."

"You have a way with words, Nick Wilde," Judy commended as she buried her face in his chest.

"Of course I do. That's how I've survived," Nick chuckled, but was caught off guard when Judy took her face off of his chest and pressed her nose against his. She started to make small movements in moving her nose from side to side against his. It was…nice. It was a new experience for Nick, and he enjoyed it with all of his heart. He reciprocated with small movements of his own nose. Suddenly, it was as if they weren't at the ZPD anymore. They were in their own little world. Nothing could ruin this moment for them. Well, nothing except…

"Wilde! Hopps!" Chief Bogo's voice boomed from the indoor balcony of the upper floor. They both froze and looked up at the cape buffalo like a pair of deer caught in headlights. "If you two are going to flirt with each other, can it not be by the front door as people are trying to walk in and out of here?"

"Ehehehe… Sorry, sir!" Judy chuckled sheepishly. Nick carried her out the front door of the ZPD HQ and walked about twenty feet off to the side where they continued to rub noses for a little while more. Judy finished off the nose rubbing session by breaking away and kissing Nick's cheek.

"C-c'mon, I'll take you home," Nick told her and carried her in the direction of her apartment building. Deep down, he hoped they could have moments like that more often. He didn't try to take the poem back again. He didn't need to. He got the bunny, and that was what counted.


	2. Spending the Night

**First of all, thank you all so much for the positive feedback! I love this movie; it's instantly become a new favorite of mine! I thought I'd be lost in the explosion of the fan base as I've noticed that Zootopia has hundreds of fanfictions on our site after only two weeks. In light of recent requests and a feeling of incompleteness, I decided to extend this story beyond the confines of a one-shot!**

 **Second, I may change the rating of the story based on how it develops.**

 **This chapter was longer than I anticipated, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I just kept going and going! I'll let you all get on with it now. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 2: Spending the Night**

By the time Nick was at Judy's front door, he heard her crazy neighbors yelling at each other. The fox said to the rabbit, "You know, when you said they were loud, I thought you meant that they just liked to party a lot."

"Eh. I get used to it. Never fully, but…" Judy trailed off and simply shrugged as she did. She flashed Nick a smile and pulled out her apartment key. Putting the key into the keyhole and turning it, she unlocked and opened the door and stepped in.

"SHUT UP!" Pronk, one of Judy's neighbors, yelled at his roommate.

"NO, YOU SHUT UP!" the other one, Bucky, hollered back.

"Well, uh, good night," Nick bid Judy farewell, but she grabbed his paw before he could leave. He looked into those sparkling amethyst eyes of hers.

"It's getting late. Why not spend the night?" Judy offered with her voice filled to the brim with sincerity and concern.

"Carrots, it's not that late," Nick tried to politely decline. "C'mon, I can handle myself." The refusal was getting more difficult by the second. Judy's gaze seemed to be growing ever cuter and more heartfelt. "Well…I-I guess one night couldn't hurt. Thanks, Carrots."

"Thank you, Nick," Judy thanked him as she hugged him, "for walking me home and for that nice poem."

"That poem is probably the most sincere thing I've ever done," Nick sighed and stepped into her apartment. He wiped his paws on a doormat she had that said 'Home Sweet Home' on it with a carrot embroidered on either side of the phrase.

"Don't say things like that. Nick, you and I both know that you are so much more than that, especially since you have so much more to show for it now," Judy tried to console the orange furred fox, hugging him tighter. "I hate it when you say things like that, especially… because I meant what I said in the patrol car the other day."

"What are you talking about?" Nick asked curiously, not knowing what she meant by that.

"Don't you remember? 'You know you love me.' 'Do I know that? Yes. Yes, I do'," Judy reminded him of their little exchange when they were tracking down the street racer. "That was more than just playful banter."

"…Clever bunny," Nick complimented with a smirk and wrapped his arms around her. He started humming.

Nick's humming prompted the bunny to ask, "What's that you're humming?"

"Oh, you mean this little tune?" Nick asked rhetorically and soon provided an answer: "It's something my mother used to sing to me. The exact wording escapes me, but the tune is etched into my memory."

"FINISH THE MILK IF YOU'RE GOING TO DRINK IT!" one of the rabbit's neighbors, presumably Pronk, continued yelling. "DON'T JUST LEAVE THE DREGS! IT TAKES UP SPACE IN THE FRIDGE!

"YOU GET WORKED UP TOO EASILY!" the other one, Bucky by process of elimination, responded loudly.

"…How do you sleep at night?" Nick questioned.

"Huh. Good question. I just manage it somehow," Judy replied nonchalantly for reasons Nick may have never grown to understand.

"I, uh, I like your doormat," Nick complimented her on the doormat.

"Thanks. My parents…sent it…to me…" Judy said cautiously, eyes gradually widening.

"What? What is it?" Nick asked, crouching so they could be at eye level with each other.

"They're the ones who gave me the fox repellent when I first left home…" Judy admitted and bit down on her lower lip nervously, her large ears drooping to the back of her head.

"…Oh," Nick took a moment of silence and then spoke.

"Nick, I—" Judy started to panic, but Nick cut her off.

"They just care about your safety, Carrots. I get it," Nick assured. "That's all water under the bridge."

"I-I threw it out! I got rid of that fox repellent as soon as I decided to go home!" Judy insisted, trying to hold back her tears. "It represented nothing more than painful memories and my own faults!"

"Carrots," Nick spoke up; hugging her even tighter. "Don't sweat it. Real life is messy, remember? So you and I can clean it up a little together. That was one mess we cleaned up, right?" He saw her nod under his nose and grinned.

"I don't have a guest room, but I can blow up an air mattress for you," Judy informed the fox and went to the narrow hall to get it. She yanked a bag out of the closet and pulled it over to the wall opposite of her bed. Opening the bag, she pulled out the deflated air mattress and plugged it in. She pressed a button on the controller that manipulated the amount of air in the mattress and thumped her foot impatiently as the portable bed grew to life on the floor.

"Thanks, Carrots. Listen—" Nick began, but the rabbit cut him off this time.

"I don't want them to discriminate against you! You're a great guy!" Judy suddenly blurted out. "I mean I know that they're aware the baker they partner with is a fox, but I think they're only comfortable with him because he grew up in Bunnyburrow and he's not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. I'm worried they wouldn't react well to you."

"Well, that didn't take very much prompting. How did they react when you went onto be a cop?" Nick asked curiously.

"Not well. They worried nonstop," Judy answered.

"And you didn't care. That didn't stop you. So what's the problem this time?"

"I guess you're right…"

"I try to make a habit out of it," Nick told her slyly.

As the air mattress was nearly full of air, Judy let go of the button and made her way over to the fox and said, "Don't push it, sweetheart." She then kissed his nose, and the fox instantly felt his cheeks heat up. "You want first shower?"

"You go on ahead…" Nick said slowly, trying to bounce back from the shock and pleasure he felt from her kiss. "I'll…test out the air mattress and see how it feels."

"Good thinking, clever fox," Judy complimented and hopped over to her dresser. She retrieved some clothes from her dresser, grabbed a towel from the closet, and made her way into the bathroom.

Nick sat on the air mattress, and then deflated it a little bit to adjust it. He questioned himself. Why couldn't he remember how that song went? His focus drifted from that when he heard Judy turn the shower on. He focused on the sound of the hot water hitting her fur and the shower floor. It was a relaxing sound to focus on. That is to say until Pronk and Bucky resumed yelling as usual. Then all of the sounds became a garbled mess. Nick collapsed onto the bed. He couldn't help but wonder still how Judy could sleep restfully with the kudu-oryx pair as neighbors, and then get up early in the morning and be as caring and perky and wonderful as she was.

"Nick? Nick, the shower's open. Nick," Judy called his name several times. She lightly clapped before his eyes, snapping him out of his daydream. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Sorry. I'm fine. I was just thinking," Nick assured her, seemingly putting her at ease. He was about to tell her what when he got a good look at her. She was wearing a black tank top and navy blue short shorts. What he really took notice of was a scar on her leg. "That's from that night at museum isn't it?"

"The scar? Yeah," Judy replied, smiling as if one of the most terrifying experiences of their lives—if not the most terrifying experience—was a childhood memory that she looked back upon fondly. "This scar reminds me of more than just being pushed into a corner once we realized Bellwether was behind everything. It reminds me of how we were able to pull through thanks to quick thinking and each other. Thanks for never leaving me behind."

"I don't even want to think about what would have happened if I just left you there with that psychotic, fluffy sheep lady," Nick informed her, the very idea horrifying him. "Besides, it was your case to see through. I was just a cop by sticker-based association."

"I don't think sticker-based association is the right phrase for why you helped me," Judy giggled and told him. "I think…we're a match made in heaven."

"YOU GUYS SHOULD KISS ALREADY!" Bucky and Pronk hollered from the other side of the wall.

"…Have you ever considered moving?" Nick asked the bunny, who simply shook her head.

"It's getting late. I should get started on dinner," Judy decided. "Shower up."

"I'll help you once I'm out of the shower," Nick offered. "And thanks again for letting me spend the night, Carrots."

"It's my pleasure, Nick," Judy insisted. It was true. She loved and craved his company. As Nick got into the shower, Finnick came by—much to Judy's surprise—and dropped off a set of pajamas and a spare uniform for Nick. When had Nick called on Finnick? Had he predicted this? Accepting the red fox's clothing, Judy said to the fennec fox, "Thank you, Finnick." As the small fennec left, Judy closed the door and muttered under her breath, "Clever fox…"

Soon enough, Nick was out of the shower. Together, the two of them whipped up a great meal of vegetable fried rice with added protein supplements. A glass of water accompanied each of their portions. The meal tasted even better with each other's company. The food was good, but they were having so much fun just talking to each other that they had to make a conscious effort to eat. They generally talked about the positive aspects of their childhood. Many of Nick's childhood stories connected to his mother, which prompted Judy to ask, "When was the last time you two talked?"

Nick's smile faded and he answered, "Not for a while. I guess I get my skill of being able to lay low from her side of the family. No one ever called me out on tax evasion before you did."

"Nick, you should call her at some point. In all honesty, I'd love to meet her," Judy urged.

"Well, I'd like to meet your parents," Nick countered.

Biting her lower lip for a moment, Judy said, "I'll cross that bridge when we get to it." She picked up her water glass. "Cheers to the ones who raised us."

"And to the ones we love," Nick added and lightly tapped the edge of his glass to the edge of Judy's.

Soon after, they were both in bed. Judy was lying down on her side so she could face Nick on the air mattress. Nick, in turn, was lying on his side to face Judy. The two were smiling at each other.

"I'm starting to see why you like this place. It's cozy," Nick commented.

"Yeah. It is," Judy agreed. "Thank you for coming onto the police force, Nick."

"Hey, we're too good a team to let it just end. And you were right; it is nice having a partner. It's just nice to have someone who cares about you and believes in you," Nick told her, sighing contently. "I have a second chance because of you. You're a great cop and an all around great person, Carrots."

"You're not just a predator."

"You're not just prey."

"You're the best thing I could ever ask for," they confessed simultaneously, and then grew flustered at the unified speech.

"That was cool," Nick chuckled.

"Yeah. It's like we read each other's mind or something," Judy giggled. A yawn followed suit. "Good night, Nick." With that, she closed her eyes and began to let her dreams take over.

"Good night… Judy," Nick bid the rabbit good night. He realized that that was the second or third time he had ever called her by her first name. "Maybe I should stick with Carrots. It's kind of become our thing."

"Mm-hmm…" Judy agreed, already half asleep. Nick rose from the air mattress and crept over to her bed. Her ears faced his direction. A huge smile grew onto her face one more time when he kissed her between the ears. With that, Nick receded to his own bed in hopes of falling asleep quickly. However, Judy's unsociable neighbors started blasting an album by the band Guns N Rodents.

"How can she stand it…?" Nick muttered as he gritted his teeth and covered his ears with his pillow.


	3. Love is Boundless

**Hi, all! I am so sorry for the long wait! I was away. Anyway, as I said before, the rating for this story may change. I am not sure when, if at all. I am still Wilde for this movie (pun intended) and it's been two weeks (give or take) since I saw it. This chapter is fluff—how heavy the fluff gets depends on your point of view—in which Nick and Judy weigh their philosophical views on life after being together for as long as they have been. I have a bit of a knack for it, but I do intend to pick up the pace of the story a bit when possible. I want to at least attempt to do the movie justice.**

 **What am I saying? It's extremely difficult to do such a phenomenal movie justice in a simple fanfic! I am having a bit of a moment here, having flashbacks about Zootopia. Don't mind me! Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 3: Love is Boundless**

The next morning came all too quickly for Nick. He'd slept a grand total of four hours. It was when the energetic bunny shook him awake that he decided he hated Judy's unsociable neighbors. Judy asked, "Are you just not a morning person?"

"How in the heck are _you_ a morning person?" Nick retorted.

"Oh, Nick, I had the best dream last night!" Judy informed the fox, deeming his retort as rhetorical. "I had these gorgeous butterfly wings! I was flying! It was so magical!"

"Sounds like it… Do you have any coffee?" Nick asked her groggily.

"I've got a pot going now," Judy replied. "You were in my dream! I was flying in the dark, lost, and then you flew up to me—oh, yeah, you had butterfly wings, too—and you took my paw. You said 'are all bunnies this terrible with directions or is it just you'?"

"I would say that," Nick said in approval.

"And then you took me to a beautiful meadow! We cuddled in the flowers and then you said that the flowers weren't nearly as beautiful or rejuvenating as my eyes," Judy went on about her fantastic dream.

"That gives me an idea," Nick yawned and got in her face.

"What are you doing?" Judy dared to ask.

"Being rejuvenated," Nick replied, causing the rabbit to roll her eyes. "Your neighbors kept me up all night."

"Really? Bucky and Pronk are always pretty tame," Judy said, shocked.

"You call all of the yelling and the music-blasting tame?" Nick's jaw almost hit the floor; he was so shocked at her shock.

"They have pretty good taste in music. Guns N Rodents is a great band!" Judy said to Nick, veering off topic again.

"Carrots, my point is that you don't blast heavy metal music in the middle of the night with a daytime cop living next door! How can you stand it?" Nick demanded.

"Why are you getting so worked up about this? Nick, I get where you're coming from, but I don't expect them to apologize to me for their activities when it's frankly none of my business as a cop or a neighbor," Judy explained to the fox. She put a paw on his arm. "I'll take you to Bunnyburrow on our next day off. It's pretty peaceful there, so you'll get plenty of sleep. Just…don't be too upset if my dad comes at you with a taser."

"Noted. Why did your folks give you fox mace as a going-away gift, anyway?" Nick felt the need to ask Judy what he felt was the golden question.

"Well, I think at least part of it has to do with something that happened to me when I was nine. There was this bully—who grew up to be a really sweet and humble guy—named Gideon Grey. He was boastful of his species, being a predator and all. He had taken away some kids' tickets at the fair one year, and I called him out on it. I stood up to him. He…clawed at my face…"

"He what?! And he grew up to be a good fox? When I get my paws on him—" Nick growled.

"Nick, stop! Settle down. I'm fine and you need to hear the whole story," Judy managed to calm the fox down. "He left some nasty scratches on my face, but I did manage to get the tickets back. I'm not sure what, but something had traumatized Gideon out of his bad behavior. He grew up to be a great baker and a kind guy, so my parents aren't all that wary of him anymore, but…I think they've linked foxes in general to that incident because Gideon boasted about it so much in our younger years."

"…They were just being protective parents. I would be worried if I had a little girl that went through that, too. I'm not worried too much about bigotry anymore. You know the story of Panda's Box?" Nick started to allude a well-known myth into the conversation.

"Of course. They say that the gods entrusted a panda with a box and was told never to open it. When she did, turmoil, chaos, and despair flooded the world, but hope was in the box as well," Judy paraphrased the old story, confirming that she knew it.

"That's right. If our personal philosophies met halfway, you and I would reach this conclusion: the world is one big Panda's Box. Even in the face of despair, hope remains and opportunities are born. Because of you, I know that I'm not confined to my stereotypes and that what I do is more about who I am than what I am," Nick explained.

"And because of you, I know that anyone being anything isn't as simple as it seems. Who we are and what we do takes effort and faith and dedication. Anyone can be anything to the best of their ability if they put forth the effort and have faith in their dreams," Judy told Nick what she'd learned by being with him. "Oh, I think I get what you're saying now! Because anyone can be whatever they want to be to the best of their ability, they use the hope in the world to drive them through despair!"

"See? This world's not as broken as it seems," Nick said slyly and yawned, grinning at his own clever philosophical thinking.

"Not bad for someone who only got five hours of sleep," Judy complimented and poured him a cup of coffee.

"Four," Nick corrected her and took the mug by the handle.

"Do you take milk or sugar?"

"A little, please."

Judy filled a tablespoon with sugar, dumped it into the coffee, and stirred. When she was sure all the sugar had melted, she poured a bit of milk in so the coffee lightened in color. He gave her an appreciative nod and began to drink the coffee. She continued their philosophical talk by saying, "And if anyone can be anything to the best of their ability with the hope present in the world, then I think it's safe to say that if we wanted to, we could be lovers."

This comment caused Nick to stop drinking the coffee mid-sip. He echoed, "Lovers?"

"Well, you kind of gave that impression in the poem. Why? Do you…not like me that way?" Judy asked carefully, thinking she had jumped the gun.

"Are you kidding? Carrots, I'm wild about you—no pun intended!" Nick exclaimed gleefully. "I don't think that the two of us being different races matters, especially since it certainly doesn't matter to your neighbors! I'm crazy about you, and I think love is boundless."

"Oh, Nick…!" Judy swooned and hugged him, almost spilling the coffee in the process. "I was hoping you'd say that! I feel the exact same way, you clever fox!"

"You wonderful bunny," Nick said happily as he returned the hug.

"HEY! KEEP IT DOWN OVER THERE!" Bucky hollered at the fox and the bunny from the other side of the wall.

"YEAH, WE'RE TRYING TO SLEEP!" Pronk added.

"Sorry!" Judy called out to her neighbors.

" _You're_ sorry?" Nick asked, looking at the gray rabbit like she had lost her mind.

"Yeah," Judy confirmed that she was, in fact, sorry for disturbing the kudu and the oryx.

"Wow! You are one kind bunny. You know what? I think this world needs more animals like you," Nick informed the rabbit.

"Aww, thanks, Nick! It's a good thing we bunnies are good at multiplying," Judy cleverly joked and sincerely thanked the fox. Her multiplication joke had caused the fox to stifle his laughter in order to keep the coffee he had sipped up in his snout. "Finish that. I've got toast with blueberry jam for you."

"You're the best!" Nick exclaimed after inhaling his coffee, which caused Judy to blush and become delightfully flustered. With a little skip in her step, she rushed the plate of toast to him. "So after all of this lover talk, is it safe to call us…?"

"Boyfriend and girlfriend?" Judy finished his sentence for him. He gave her a nod of approval, letting her know that that was what he was going to say. She smiled and said, "Yeah, if you want."

"I'd like that," Nick told her.

"Me, too," Judy responded, now making her own cup of coffee.

"Then it's official. A toast to us," Nick proposed, raising his mug.

"To us," Judy agreed and raised her mug to meet his. After their little celebration on the declaration of their relationship, the two of them finished suiting up and got to work as quickly as possible.


	4. Making Plans

**Whoa! This story, in terms of views and readers and favorites and what now, has the most growth of anything I've written! I am so flattered by that! I find it amazing, even! Hopefully, this blows some of my other stories out of the water, especially since I think some of my past work kind of stinks. Anyway, I saw Zootopia** _ **again**_ **today and I loved it just as much as the first time! On top of that, it's freshened up my inspiration!**

 **Anyway, thank you all so, so, so much for reading! This story would not be where it is without your support! I hope you continue to do so. I will do my best. Thank you all! Without further ado, enjoy!**

 **Chapter 4: Making Plans**

The rabbit-fox pair clocked in at the ZPD with Officer Benjamin Clawhauser, who looked especially happy today. The round cheetah was practically bouncing on the balls of his hind paws. Judy finally forced herself to ask, "What's so funny, Clawhauser?"

"Oh, just…this!" Benjamin told her excitedly and stuck a slip of paper in her face. Judy took a step back and saw that he had gotten two tickets to a Gazelle concert. "Cool, right?"

"Very!" Judy agreed with the operator. "Everyone on the force knows you're a huge Gazelle fan."

"Get this! So is Chief Bogo!" Benjamin gossiped. "He and I have the same app where you can paste a picture of your own face onto one of her dancers and dance with her! I think I'll ask him if he wants to go to the concert with me as a work buddy!"

Nick, who was intrigued by thus, nudged Judy and muttered, "Pass me your pen and notepad. I've got to write this down."

"Out of material already?" Judy teased. She giggled at herself a bit and stopped when Nick discretely wrapped an arm around her.

"O… M… Goodness…! You guys really are a thing!" Benjamin squealed in delight. "And here most cops think you two just work really well together!"

"We do…in more than one sense," Nick responded, confirming some accuracy to Clawhauser's statement.

"We really just decided it this morning after discussing some philosophies and Nick's poem," Judy explained to the cheetah.

"What kind of philosophies?" Benjamin asked.

"Well, we concluded that…" Nick began.

"Hope is the driving force of the world," Judy finished.

"You guys just started dating this morning and you're already finishing each other's sentences?" Benjamin continued his barrage of questions, shocked at the seemingly quick development.

"I like to think of it was we've sort of dated for a while and didn't realize it until today," Nick replied, yawning at the end.

"Poor foxy. He didn't get much sleep last night," Judy justified her partner's yawn. "He says it was because of my neighbors."

"It _was_ because of your neighbors," Nick grumbled. "They're terrible. Keep in mind this is coming from an ex-popsicle hustler."

"You were a popsicle hustler?" Benjamin was once again shocked.

"I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of, Clawhauser. Luckily, meeting this fluffy bundle of love isn't one of those things," Nick proudly told the cheetah, holding Judy closer to him.

"We're going to Bunnyburrow so he can meet my parents. We just need to ask the chief when would be a good time to take a few days off," Judy divulged, feeling a spiraling combination of angst and excitement in her stomach.

"I've been dying to meet the growers of those lovely blueberries," Nick stated genuinely. "I love blueberries and those blueberries saved our lives. If not for them, we wouldn't have had anything to swap out Bellwether's pellets with. I'd most likely be locked up in the asylum and Carrots would be…"

Noticing that Nick didn't seem comfortable with the thought of killing her with his own claws and teeth while in a feral state, Judy re-railed the conversation quite cleverly. She made Benjamin an offer: "Clawhauser, you've got to try these blueberries. I think I have some on me if you want some."

"Ooh! Yes, please!" Benjamin excitedly accepted the offer.

Judy took out a small zip-lock baggy and unsealed it. She instructed, "Now cup your paws." When Benjamin did as instructed, Judy gently poured a small portion of the blueberries into his paws.

"Thanks, Hopps! You're awesome!" Benjamin thanked the bunny, sincerely thankful.

When the cheetah made his way over to his desk, Nick chuckled to himself. He said to the rabbit, "I like how excited he gets about everything. He's probably the second-most personable cop I've met."

Not feeling the need to ask who the first was, Judy instead asked, "So…were you planning to spend the night at my place? Because Finnick showed up awfully quickly."

"No, not initially. Finnick and I are just pretty tight. You've probably got friends like that," Nick answered.

"Well…I don't have any friends that are as close to me as you," Judy admitted. "I was always an outlier of sorts. No one ever thought I could defy the odds I went up against, so I never really got to relate to anyone before you came along."

"I guess…it's easy to feel alone when you feel like the only one who understands you is you," Nick theorized. Judy's distant gaze confirmed his statement. He could tell she was trying hard to think of someone she was close to before him and coming up with nothing. Then, her sweet lips parted.

"Bellwether…" Judy mumbled.

"Bellwether?" Nick echoed.

"Ex-Mayor Bellwether, back when she was the assistant mayor, had gone out of her way to reach out to me and let me know she was supporting me. I guess she at least tried to get close to me. I was so enamored with everything that was going on around me that I never really tried to reach out to her until I needed help," Judy muttered, feeling guilty. "If I had only given her some of the attention she needed, that whole incident could have been prevented!"

"…One, I think she was too far gone. She was nice, but she was too deep in her plot to just be talked out of it. Two," Nick tried to reason with Judy, gripping her shoulders, "if that stuff hadn't happened, you and I probably wouldn't have come this far. If anything, I'm pretty grateful that she was a psycho bent on revenge on society. I have you, and you have me _and_ an excellent point made. If anything should divide the mammals of the world, it should be our character, not our race. We've evolved enough to look past that and celebrate the differences that once dominated our way of life."

"…You should get less sleep more often," Judy suggested, enraptured by Nick's deep thinking.

"It's not because I'm dog tired, sweetheart," Nick sighed. "We're stopping at Snarlbucks later, right?"

"Sure, Nick," Judy promised him. They held paws as they made their way upstairs to Chief Bogo's office. When they finally stood before his towering door, Judy knocked on it with her free paw. "Chief Bogo?"

They heard the faint sound of Gazelle's music from within the office and listened closely. Nick whispered, "Clawhauser was right!"

"Just a minute!" Bogo called out.

"Wow, you're a great dancer, Chief Bogo," an automated Gazelle voice complimented the chief of the Zootopia Police Department.

A short moment later, the fox and the rabbit heard the sound of Bogo's phone locking. Then, the cape buffalo yanked open the door and demanded in a low voice, "Tell me how much of that you heard."

"Enough to know that you have pretty good taste in music," Nick told him with a big, sly grin. "Of course, you don't think it matches the big, strong image you like to keep up, do you?"

"You want something, don't you?" Bogo guessed.

"Just a request for a day or two off," Nick told the buffalo. "We're reasonable."

"Nick…" Judy nervously groaned in protest.

"To do what?" Bogo asked.

"I want Nick to meet my parents," Judy explained. "You see, we…believe that our partnership and our chemistry is beyond that of a crime-fighting team."

"I agree."

"Well-you do?"

"I do. While I'm normally obligated to separate you two on the force to keep work and personal relationships apart, you two are too good a team to break up," Bogo divulged his thoughts.

"Sir, I…thank you, sir!" Judy thanked the buffalo officer, bowing deeply. "Thank you for keeping us together!"

"You two are better together. It's common sense," Bogo responded nonchalantly. "I'm sincerely happy for you. Take the weekend off."

"Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir!" Judy thanked the buffalo profusely.

"You know, sir, I hear Clawhauser has two tickets to see Gazelle in concert and no one to give the other ticket to," Nick informed Chief Bogo.

"Are you hustling me?" Bogo asked the fox.

"Just repaying the favor, Chief," Nick denied there being any act of hustling on his part. He beamed at Judy with his emerald eyes before kissing her between the ears. "I think I'm going to like your parents, Carrots."

"I hope so. And I think I'll like your mother. You owe me a meeting with her," Judy reminded the male fox.

"I know, I know," Nick acknowledged her point as he gazed into her beautiful, vivid, purple eyes. "I'll tell you this much so you have something to look forward to; her name is Kristy Wilde."


	5. Welcome to Bunnyburrow

**Hi, all! Before I start the chapter, I would just like to say that since Judy has 275 unnamed siblings with unspecified ages, I took it upon myself to name one and provide a bit of background information on her. I think that since I came up with the more developed idea, I can technically claim her as an OC. It just has the static potential to have been canon. Maybe. I don't know. I'm just rolling with it.**

 **Here's the moment you've been waiting for at least for the past chapter, maybe two! Just a warning; it does get a little heavy at the beginning, content-wise. I'm sure at least a few people can relate to said heavy content. This includes me, being very loosely based off of my own experience.**

 **Nick: You've said enough there, big guy.**

 **You're probably right, Nick. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 5: Welcome to Bunnyburrow**

Judy and Nick were on the express train about as soon as their weekend came around. On account of Judy's insistence, the rabbit and fox made their way up to the observatory level of the train, which was a cockpit of shatter-proof glass on the roof of the train that was initially meant to accommodate taller animals like giraffes, but became popular among all train patrons. Once the train got moving, it soared down the tracks and through the different districts of Zootopia. Judy, who was radiating with intrigue, said to her boyfriend, "I can never get enough of the view of the city you can get here."

"Yeah? No wonder you thought Zootopia was this magical, utopian society when you first showed up," Nick inferred, smirking as Judy punched his arm in expected irritation.

"…Speaking of which," Judy spoke up again, "I had stopped thinking that after the press conference from when I thought we solved the missing mammal cases. It felt like my faith was slipping away. But then, once I factored in the night howlers being flowers, I realized that the whole point of being a cop is to help make the city as safe and magical a place as possible."

"A little cliché," Nick began, "but that's a pretty deep thought all the same. Clever bunny."

"So…where is your mom?" Judy asked. She figured she may as well try to get some background information out of the fox since the train ride would cover over 200 miles.

"Back where I grew up. She could never bring herself to move out of that apartment. She had considered it so many times, but she could never bring herself to do it," Nick answered, his gaze through the window darkening. "She's a nostalgic vixen. Beautiful for her age. I guess I get that from her. My favorite green button-up shirt is the same pattern as the wall paper in one of the rooms."

"What about the tie?" Judy asked, trying to get more of a feel for the fox's background.

"It was my dad's…" Nick replied. He didn't look at her. Judy recognized his facial expression; it was the same one he wore when he told her about his Ranger Scout dream turning into a fiasco on the sky tram in the Rain Forest District. Those somber green eyes told Judy two things: something happened to Nick's father and this conversation was like walking through landmines.

"You've never mentioned your dad to me before," Judy carefully pointed out to the fox.

"I don't really have many memories of him. When I was six or seven, he…" Nick began, but trailed off.

"He what…?" Judy asked. "I'm sorry to pry, but…you look like you need to say it…"

"He left us…" Nick sighed and divulged.

Outraged, Judy cried out, "How dare he leave you and your mom?! He'd just leave his wife and young kit? Who does that?!"

"Carrots, you don't understand—" Nick started to say.

"I don't understand! You're right! That's just terrible!" Judy said angrily. She practically had smoke coming out of her ears.

"I don't mean he walked out, Carrots. I admit that wasn't the best way to word that and I now realize that that was a little misleading, but he didn't walk out on us. He died…" Nick clarified, gripping Judy's shoulders. Tears hung in his emerald eyes. "He left our world, Carrots."

Feeling guilty for jumping the gun—and on something so personal—Judy's ears drooped and she stuttered, "N-Nick, I…I'm so sorry! I didn't realize…I mean I never knew…"

"Because I never mentioned him to you before. I didn't really tell anyone. I've never tried to hide it, but I never really brought it up in conversation because I never thought it to be anyone else's business. Back then, most of the other kids wouldn't have understood. And if they knew about what happened and I brought him up in general, the other kids would clam up awkwardly. Keep in mind I didn't have many friends growing up. I'd felt alone for a long time. Even when I met Finnick on the street, I felt alone," Nick explained. He suddenly realized that Judy was hugging him and crying into his chest. "You bunnies are so emotional."

"Okay, you cannot pin that on me this time!" Judy sniffled and wiped away her tears as she looked up at him. "With a tragic past like that, who wouldn't be moved to tears?"

"Do you feel like you need to know how he died?" Nick asked, still successfully holding back his own tears.

Taking a deep breath, Judy managed to say, "Tell me whenever you're ready. I'll always be right here for you."

"Thanks, Carrots," Nick thanked her. He kissed her between the ears before finally breaking down and crying onto her head.

"I wish I was there for you when you were little!" Judy sobbed.

"If you had been, you'd grow up seeing the same broken world I did, losing your way in a nightmare. If anything, you came at the right time," Nick barely managed to say through choked sobs. The two of them had embraced each other the rest of the way to Bunnyburrow.

Their crying had ceased when the "Welcome to Bunnyburrow" sign came into view. The first thing Nick noticed was the population counter. As he watched the population number continuously and rapidly climb, he began to think that some stereotypes really _were_ justifiable.

"Are you feeling better?" Judy asked the fox tenderly.

"Yeah, a little," Nick told her, smiling as he continued to embrace her. "Especially after seeing that population counter."

"Oh, hush!" Judy playfully chided. She saw that they were at their stop and grabbed her suitcase. "Come on!" She hopped down the floor of the train while Nick simply climbed down the ladder, his bag strapped to his back. The amethyst-eyed bunny was the first one off the train, tackling her waiting parents with a hug.

"Judy! Oh, we're so glad to see our favorite police officer!" Judy's mother, Bonnie, joyfully and lovingly nuzzled her daughter.

"Hey, Jude the dude! How's my girl doing?" Stu asked her delightfully.

"Fantastic, thanks! Oh, like I said before, I brought along my partner/boyfriend," Judy reminded her parents.

"Mixing work and pleasure is risky business," Bonnie began to lecture her.

"Oh, Bon, you know she's responsible enough!" Stu said to his wife. "Where is the lucky man?"

"Right here," Judy answered, gesturing to Nick. "Mom, Dad, meet Nick Wilde."

The first things Nick noticed about Judy's parents were that her mother was like an older version of her and that her father rightfully looked the part of a carrot farmer. Bonnie and Stu eyed the fox. Their huge, happy smiles faded into grimaces of confusion. As if by reflex, Stu took out his fox taser and tried to jab Nick with it. Nick, dodging nervously, yet elegantly, tried to say, "I come in peace!"

"Who do you think you are, making moves on my daughter?!" Stu demanded as he kept trying to shock the fox with the taser. Nick was ever grateful that Judy told him about this in advance.

"Dad, stop!" a gray bunny who looked a lot like Judy, only with brown eyes, grabbed Stu's arm and scolded. The bunny was clad with jeans and a flowing orange blouse.

"Amber!" Judy cried out in delight and hugged the bunny. "Nick, this is my twin sister, Amber!"

"Fraternal twin. That's why our eyes are different," Amber added on proudly as she ripped the taser from her father's hand. To Stu, she said, "I thought you were cool with foxes! Your business partner is a fox!"

"Well, I know the foxes that live around here, like Gideon. I don't know this guy!" Stu told his daughter defensively.

"So you're being a protective dad because he's a stranger or because he's a fox?" Amber asked, crossing her arms.

"A little bit of both…" Stu admitted.

"You may not know him all that well, but _Judy_ does!" Amber tried to reason with her father.

"Oh, dear…" Bonnie muttered and fainted.

"Whoa there!" Nick gasped and caught the older bunny before she hit the concrete floor of the train stop. "I've got you, Mrs. Hopps."

"Thank you, Nick!" Judy cried out gleefully, overjoyed about her mother not suffering head trauma from what was supposed to be happy news. Albeit, she did half-expect this to happen.

"He seems to be of overall good character. I like him," Amber nodded in approval. "You've picked yourself a good male, Jude. I'm a little surprised that you're dating a fox. It's a good surprise! Love knows no bounds!"

"I think biology does," Stu mumbled.

"Actually," Amber began to say matter-of-factly, "because all mammals have been evolving with the same general trend for thousands of years, geneticists have gone through several rounds of comparing and contrasting the karyotypes of different species and they have been closing the gap of chromosomal differences."

"I didn't catch a word of that," Nick whispered in Judy's ear.

"She's saying that while our DNA is generally similar to the way it was from our more primitive days, animals of different species have been growing more compatible," Judy explained. "Amber's been studying to become a nurse and she minored in genetics when working to get her bachelor's degree."

"A nurse, eh? That's quite a noble profession!" Nick complimented. Amber, in her own way, seemed just as smart and clever as Judy. He hadn't doubted it before, but there was no way he could doubt it now; they really were twins.

"Thank you! Now you know that you may be able to have a baby with someone of a different species!" Amber said sweetly, causing Nick to almost fall over and Judy to become flustered. "Oh, I'm only teasing! Partially."

"Oh, that's right! I just remembered I have to introduce you to my other 274 brothers and sisters!" Judy recalled.

"We're taking a whole day for introductions?" Nick asked, guessing that it would be a lengthy process.

"Oh, dear… I had the weirdest dream," Bonnie muttered as she came to. She saw Nick and corrected herself. "No, I didn't."

"Mrs. Hopps, I know an interspecies relationship isn't conventional, but I wholeheartedly care about your daughter," Nick tried to assure Bonnie.

"I sure hope so, Mr. Wilde…" Bonnie muttered.

"Mom, at least read this poem he wrote for me," Judy urged and slipped the yellow piece of paper into her mother's paws.

"You brought that with you?" Nick asked as his eyes nearly bulged from his head.

"It's like a good luck charm to me. I want to be buried with it," Judy informed her beloved fox. She rubbed her body up against him and wrapped his tail around herself. "It's the most wonderful thing anyone has ever told me."

"Oh! Aww, that's so sweet!" Bonnie nearly cried as she finished reading the poem. "It's so comfortably styled and sincerely written!" Out of nowhere, she flung her arms around Nick and Judy. "You have my blessing! No boy has ever been so sweet to Judy!"

"Are you serious?" Nick questioned, genuinely surprised. "No boy?"

"All of the boys around here were afraid because they thought she dreamed too vastly and too dangerously. Judy's a little on the headstrong side," Amber explained. "We Hopps girls are a lot tougher than we look."

"I believe it after meeting Carrots here—I mean Judy," Nick acknowledged Amber's point as a fact and corrected himself on the pet name.

"Nick, I like the pet name," Judy moaned playfully.

"Stu, please read this!" Bonnie urged her husband and handed him the paper.

Stu gave Nick's poem a quick read. Nick swallowed once. He couldn't see Stu's eyes, which were hidden by the latter's cap. He didn't have any facial expression to read. He was nervous that Judy's father would continue to disapprove of him. Suddenly, Stu chuckled. He lowered the paper from his face. Grinning, the male rabbit said to the male fox, "Well, I guess you're not all talk from this and what Jude has told us about you."

"You liked it?" Nick asked. He looked and Judy. "You talked to them about me. And you never mentioned to them that I'm a fox?"

"I was reluctant to include that part until they met you," Judy admitted sheepishly. "In hindsight, that may not have been my best idea, but it's okay anyway!"

"Continue to stick by her and I think we'll get along fine," Stu assured. "Sorry about, you know, the fox taser…"

"Water under the bridge, sir," Nick said respectfully, inwardly hoping that the water wouldn't overflow.

"Can I read it? Can I? Can I? Pretty please?!" Amber begged, jumping up and down like a small child, in spite of being a young adult. Stu passed her the poem and Nick grew flustered with every new pair of paws that clutched the yellow sheet of paper. "Aww! Judy, I'm jealous! You hooked a good fox here!"

"You'll find someone," Judy assured, hugging Nick possessively, "just not my Nicky."

"That gleam in your eyes is frighteningly attractive," Nick complimented his beloved bunny girlfriend. "And it's another part of you that saves me. Another part of you for me to treasure."

"So, uh, Nick, Jude, how did you two meet?" Stu asked.

Realizing that she had never told her family about that either, Judy started to tell the story, "Well, I was on patrol on my first day, being the soldier of the law that I am—"

"You were a meter maid," Amber corrected her with a stifled snicker.

Nick picked up where Judy left off as the latter started chasing her fraternal twin around the station. He told Bonnie and Stu, "Well, in short, we met at an ice cream parlor."

"Oh, there has to be more to it than that!" Bonnie urged.

"I wouldn't want to bore you with the details. It wasn't any love-at-first-sight kind of deal, but I do think that a red thread of fate brought us together," Nick sighed contently as he dreamily watched the comically enraged object of his affections.


	6. In the Carrot Fields

**Hi! How's it going? I'm back with chapter 6. I have named yet another sibling of Judy's and I gave Amber a bit of a back story. This is mostly fluff, but I think it's pretty solid for fluff. That's just me.**

 **Nick: You're stalling again.**

 **Right! Sorry!**

 **Judy: Home sweet home!**

 **Enjoy the chapter!**

 **Chapter 6: In the Carrot Fields**

As Judy entered her childhood home, she took in every nostalgic aroma deeply. The smell of the dirt tracked in from the fields. The scent of vegetables being lightly steamed in the kitchen. The musk of Judy's grandfather asleep in his rocking chair. It was all so welcoming and familiar to Judy.

To Nick, however, it was new and a bit overwhelming. Tiny bunnies of varying ages, ranging from four to twelve, crowded around the fox like he was some sort of deity or alien. They poked him, grabbed his tail, tugged at his clothes, and one little girl even hugged him.

One bunny boy asked Nick, "Are you real?"

"Did you and Judy kiss?" a girl asked.

"Are you related to Gideon Grey?" another boy questioned.

"What's your favorite food?" another girl interrogated him on cuisine.

"Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?" Judy playfully contributed to the barrage of questions and pulled the fox away from her brothers and sisters.

"You'd think they've never seen a fox before. There are other animals besides rabbits in Bunnyburrow, aren't there?" Nick asked Judy in a low voice.

"Many. Bunnies are just the majority," Judy confirmed. "It's just how I remember it! More or less."

"Jude! Long time, no see, Little Sis!" a male rabbit who was a few inches taller than Judy, but not quite as tall as Nick, greeted playfully. The rabbit was brown furred and purple eyed. He took Judy in a headlock and gave her a noogie.

"Caleb!" Judy returned the greeting in laughter. "How's it going?"

"Swell! How's life in the big city?" Caleb released Judy and asked her.

"Great! Nick and I are making Zootopia a better place one day at a time. Oh, Nick, this is my older brother, Caleb. Caleb, this is my partner and boyfriend, Nick Wilde," Judy introduced the fox to the bunny and vice versa.

"You've got yourself a winner here, Nick, so treat her right," Caleb told Nick as he shook his paw.

"Will do," Nick assured. "So do you just help out around the farm or are you in pursuit of a dream like your sisters?"

"Good question. I'm working with some friends to put together a yogurt shop," Caleb proudly told the fox. "That's my dream. The best yogurt in the world! Has being a cop been a dream of yours?"

"Not until I met this one," Nick replied, wrapping an arm around Judy. Caleb seemed nice. Not quite as eccentric as Amber or Judy, but he seemed to be a bit of a live wire himself.

"More and more of us have dared to dream higher in this district ever since Judy soared to the top of her class at the academy and Amber got on the dean's list at Zoo U," Caleb informed Nick. "I've got the most amazing little sisters. You got any family?"

"Just my mom," Nick informed him solemnly. Judy felt her ears slap the back of her head as they drooped in sadness. After learning what she learned, she prayed that Mrs. Wilde wasn't too lonely.

"So, uh, who are you making this yogurt shop with?" Judy asked her brother curiously, hoping to lighten the mood.

"Do you remember Bella?" Caleb asked.

"The cow?"

"Yeah. She and I had this idea a couple of years ago and we're saving up. And we're in the process of getting a few others on board. Mom and Dad said they'd partner with us as long as Bella's family's dairy farm did the same," Caleb explained, getting very excited. "We'll call it Belle & Bunny's!"

"That has a nice ring to it," Nick complimented Caleb.

"I'm just going to leave you guys to get to know each other," Judy told her brother and boyfriend as she dashed down the hall into her and Amber's old room to find her twin sitting on the bed. "Is it true?!"

"Is what true?" Amber asked innocently.

"Is it true that two different kinds of animals can have kids now?" Judy frantically asked her twin in a hushed voice.

"Well…partially," Amber admitted. "Animals of the same Genus have always been able to reproduce. Anthropologists are led to believe that fertility of hybrids has been more stable—wait, are you asking because you want to have Nick's kits?" Judy said nothing as she felt her face heat up. A smirk spread across Amber's face as she continued speaking. "You sly, sly bunny!"

"I'm not even thinking about that now! We're not that far into our relationship! Now is it true or not?" Judy urged her sister to answer her.

"It's really only a theory now. Knowing you, though, you're going to try. And if it doesn't work, you can always adopt. There are plenty of kids out there who need some love," Amber finally gave Judy a straight answer.

"Yeah. Speaking of love, did you try meeting any guys when you were in Zoo U?" Judy asked curiously.

"All I did at Zootopia University was hit the books, Judy. Now…I think I've missed my chance," Amber admitted.

"We're plenty young and you're smart and pretty! Any guy would want to have you, and the right guy is out there somewhere," Judy said reassuringly, sitting down beside Amber. "Besides, we both know that's why you haven't seen anyone in years."

"I don't want to talk about that. Does Nick have any brothers? Anyone kind and honest in the family?" Amber asked hopefully.

"He's an only child, as far as I know. He's had a rough childhood because people grew up with mindsets like what Mom and Dad tried to instill in us," Judy sighed. Their mother and father had unfortunately succeeded in that, once upon a time.

"We can't make the world perfect, but you've mended his broken heart and you can keep it from breaking again," Amber said to Judy. "That much is obvious. When you two were together at the train station, there was a profound chemistry between the two of you. I've never seen you so elated before."

"What are you saying, Amber?"

"I'm saying you two are meant for each other. I only just met him and I think you two are meant for each other."

"Amber…" Judy's eyes sparkled as she said her twin's name. She hugged her tightly. "I love you!"

"Love you, too, Judy," Amber said as she returned the hug. "Thanks for this."

"No. Thank you," Judy responded pleasantly.

At dinner, Bonnie cleverly incorporated legumes to compliment the assortment of steamed vegetables as well as milk in the mashed potatoes in order for Nick to meet his protein quota. For such a huge family, dinner was especially quiet for the first several minutes. Nick finally spoke up and graciously told Bonnie, "This is delicious, Mrs. Hopps!"

"Oh, good! Thank you, Nick. I'm glad you think so," Bonnie pleasantly responded to Nick as her husband let loose a heaving sigh of relief. "I must say you are very polite, Nick."

"Mom did her best, ma'am," Nick suavely informed Bonnie.

"I'm sure your dad did a lot, too," Stu finally chimed in. He had to admit that he was moved by Nick's poem for Judy, but he wasn't entirely open to Nick yet. He was willing to give him a chance, though.

Judy stopped chewing her food and stared across the table at Nick, ears drooping once again. She looked terrified as she watched Nick's gaze fall. Then, to her surprise, she saw Nick crack a fond grin. The fox responded to the older bunny by saying, "Yeah. He did."

Nick remembered that his father was a loving fox and a hard worker. Well, from what he _could_ remember of him. Judy finished chewing her food and swallowed, relieved that that did not end disastrously.

Later that night, Judy was out in the carrot fields, standing under the moon. She adorned a denim jacket, a yellow sundress, and a mystified gleam in her eyes as she gazed up at the full moon. The nighttime breeze played with her ears and her dress. Nick, feeling the same breeze gently press on his fur, made his way over to her. He was wearing a green plaid shirt and jeans. He asked, "You wanted me to come out here to show me where the blueberries grow, right?"

"Nope. I wonder how the chief and Clawhauser are doing at that concert right now," Judy said openly, her amethyst eyes fixated on the moon.

"That's what you called me out here for?" Nick raised a brow as he questioned the rabbit's reasoning.

"Of course not," Judy told him, finally making eye contact. "I just thought a little small talk would be nice. Geez, you can be so impatient sometimes."

"Says the foot thumper," Nick countered with a sly grin. "So why'd you really call me out here?"

"I want to dance," Judy informed him.

"Dance?" Nick echoed.

"That's right. I like that tune you were humming that time. From the song your mother used to sing to you. Let's dance to that," Judy suggested.

"You serious?" Nick questioned; not sure if he could believe what she was suggesting.

"Am I going to have to hustle you into this?" Judy sighed in exasperation. "C'mon! You just need to loosen up a little. That's all it takes."

"Uh… Alright," Nick conceded and took Judy's left paw in his right. He put his free paw on her hip. She put her free paw on his shoulder. Nick started humming the tune. Once Judy was sure she knew it, she joined him in humming. With the moon as their spotlight, they swayed their body's slowly, and then they began to take their steps, carefully and elegantly avoiding stepping on the growing carrots.

The humming stopped once they got into a rhythm, and Judy began to make small talk again, complimenting him by saying, "I think you handled that talk about your dad really well at dinner."

"You expected less?" Nick asked her.

"No, but…I don't know," Judy sighed.

"You don't have to worry about it, okay? I know it's not an easy thing for anyone to talk about, but I am years and years past mourning. Sure, it's like a scar on my soul that won't heal. But I can't do anything but accept it and hope he's in a better place," Nick assured Judy that he was doing fine. "You're a good dancer."

"Amber and I practiced a lot for proms and square dances and stuff like that," Judy explained.

"You took your sister to the prom?" Nick asked with a raised brow. "I mean I've heard of it before, but I thought you both would have been able to get a date."

"She did get a date at first. But then, exactly one week before the prom happened, he cheated on her," Judy sighed. "She was so heartbroken…"

"Oh, my gosh…" Nick softly spoke, horrified.

"So I took Amber to prom," Judy concluded, though her eyes told the fox that there was more to the story.

"…So what'd you do to the guy?" Nick was very direct in asking her the question that weighed heaviest on his mind at the moment.

"Let's just say he woke up the next morning hogtied by the corsage that was _supposed to be_ Amber's," Judy answered pleasantly.

"Clever bunny," Nick complimented, just slightly perturbed that his bunny girlfriend would go so far in spite of being proud of her all the while.

"She didn't take it well, but she never let it interfere with her studies," Judy continued in spite of having intended to conclude the conversation on her sister's messy past. "Don't tell her I told you…"

"It's our little secret," Nick promised. "I have a little secret of my own for you."

"Which is…?" Judy urged.

"You're my…no, forget it. It's too soon."

"Nick!"

"Alright! You're my…first…love…" Nick forced himself to say it.

"Aww! Oh, Nick!" Judy swooned as she nuzzled her face into his chest.

"But not my first crush… I was a kid then. It never would have happened," Nick sighed and chuckled at himself.

"I'm glad it didn't. I like being able to have you and dance with you like this," Judy told him. "Nick, I would never have made it to this point in my life if you weren't there."

"And without you, I'd still be a lowly popsicle hustler," Nick pointed out. "We're in a better place when we're together."

"We sure are," Judy agreed as they continued dancing under the glistening hue that the moon and stars gave the night sky.

Amber was leaning out the window of the house, watching her twin and Nick in the carrot field. Bonnie called out to her, "Amber, when do you start that co-op?"

"Next week, Mom!" Amber called back. She felt that Judy had given her the strength not to let some boy de-rail her life as a teenager. Because of that, she was made hopeful of her own love life to be as she watched Judy's bloom.


	7. Boundless Dreamer

**I don't have a lot to say for this one except for "here's another poem". Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 7: Boundless Dreamer**

The next morning came quickly. As usual, Judy's internal clock urged her up before the crack of dawn. She quietly crept out of her old room and into the living room, where Nick was fast asleep on an air mattress. The rabbit smiled at the fox's slumbering face. Her gaze fell to a beat-up red composition notebook that he was hugging to his chest. Judy muttered to herself, "I've never seen that before…"

"Morning, Jude," Stu whispered as he walked past her.

"Hey, Dad," Judy whispered back, trying to pry her curiosity from the red notebook. She placed a paw on Nick's shoulder and gently shook him.

"Mm…?" Nick moaned groggily. "Morning already…?"

"Yeah. Sorry to get you up like this after we stayed up so late," Judy apologized sheepishly. She lovingly nuzzled his face and breathed out gently, as if her words were a pillow, "Thank you for that last night, Nick."

"You're welcome, Carrots," Nick yawned. He stretched his arms wide and his neck as far as it could go as he yawned, causing him to drop the red notebook in the process. The notebook fell open for a brief moment in which Judy snatched it up; pretending to make sure it wasn't damaged. Nick inquired, "Ahem. May I have that back, please?"

"Just checking the spine, foxy," Judy absently told him, turning the notebook in her paws to take in every detail. She started flipping through the pages and realized that the notebook was a cross between a journal and a poetry book. Nick must have been using the composition notebook as a creative outlet for years and years.

"That's not the spine, nosy," Nick informed her as he took the notebook from her paws.

"Sorry, Nick…" Judy apologized and flashed her cute, sparkly amethyst eyes at him. "Please read one to me?"

"…Darn those eyes! Alright!" Nick conceded and flipped to his latest poem. "This one is called 'Boundless Dreamer'." To his surprise, Judy plopped right into his lap. After a brief moment, he began to read the poem:

 _A boundless dreamer is an open flame_

 _Resilient, bright, hard to tame_

 _Grappled by the earth, yet taking flight_

 _Burning strong with all its might_

 _Charring the confines of bigotry_

 _Melting my chains to set me free_

 _Malice, distrust, and blinded hate_

 _These I once thought were my decided fate_

 _But thanks to the dreamer's warmest hue_

 _I now see that those are just points of view_

 _It's the clichés that nourish possibility_

 _Just as the flame nurtured my own ability_

 _A boundless dreamer makes mistakes_

 _Fights the odds and knows what risks to take_

 _Someone who, when told what she can't be_

 _Takes the "can't" and removes the "t"_

 _Says her dreams are here to stay_

 _Won't let anything get in the way_

 _The world always saw me for me_

 _But not the me I aimed to be_

 _Pretty soon, I saw myself that way, too_

 _I'd still be if not for a boundless dreamer like you_

 _A boundless dreamer invoked the child within me_

 _A boundless dreamer set me free_

When Nick finished the poem, he realized he had a hoard of bunnies around him. He asked them, "Are you the same crowd from yesterday?"

"Some of them are different," Judy informed him.

"I think I have a fan club," Nick mused. He admired the young bunnies' curiosity. He also admired that such a huge family would be as close as the Hopps family. It was different from what Nick knew. It was just him and his mother for most of when he was growing up.

"We rabbits have great taste!" Judy playfully said as she wrapped her arms around Nick and leaned on him.

"So…what work needs doing in the fields?" Nick asked.

"Sell a hundred carrots before you leave tonight!" Stu called in from the kitchen as he was preparing a lunch for himself.

"Uh…yes, sir!" Nick called back.

"You can do it. It's easy and they usually get bought by the dozen around here," Judy informed the fox with a giggle.

"Good to know," Nick said with a big smirk on his face. He liked the fact that her father was challenging him. It proved that the once fox-loathing bunny was giving him the chance of a lifetime.

"Remember, I get to meet your mom at some point. Soon. Like…next weekend," Judy reminded him once again.

"I know, I know. You can be so impatient," Nick told her as he rolled his eyes. He hoped his mother was well. She was fairly active, but probably lonely as could be. She was always a radiant vixen. A quality she and Judy shared.

While Nick and Judy went out to the carrot field, Amber was busy packing a suitcase. She was going to Zootopia with her sister and the fox so she could start her internship the next day, and she was excited to get back into the city for the first time since she graduated from college, if a little nervous. She was finally putting her life together and getting it going. She was going to build the momentum she needed. She was on the path to becoming a nurse, and she was not going to ever turn away from that.

"Amber? Are you almost ready?" Bonnie poked her head in the room and asked.

"Yeah, almost," Amber answered her mother. She was about to stuff a shirt in her duffle bag when she stopped and asked, "Mom, do you think…I'll ever have what you have with Dad or what Judy has with Nick?"

"…I don't," Bonnie answered. Amber was disheartened and devastated initially, but this changed when Bonnie continued speaking. "What I think is that you will find a male and share a relationship that is unique to you two."

"Unique to me and the other guy?" Amber echoed. She pondered this for a moment, and then she grinned giddily. "Thank you, Mom!" Hugged Bonnie, she nearly burst into tears. She told her, "I love you!"

"You'll do well out there, but let's save the so-longs for the train station. We have fruits and vegetables that need selling. Hop to it," Bonnie smiled and got Amber out into the field.

"Boom! Two hundred carrots before noon!" Nick yelled out triumphantly at eleven thirty.

"Boom!" Judy added to the celebration.

"Wow! That's got to be a record of some kind!" Stu exclaimed once he regained control of his gaping lower jaw.

"I feel bad for whoever set that record before. Their pride must hurt like the devil," Bonnie mumbled.

"Geez! How'd he manage that? It's not like we're the only carrot farmers in town!" Caleb wondered, unable to solve this enigma.

Amber couldn't help but giggle. Nick was certainly a fun, amusing fox. Judy had found herself a good male in spite of the species difference. Maybe Nick had a friend he could refer Amber to.

The early evening rolled around and Judy, Nick, and Amber had a train to catch. Judy gasped in delight when she heard Amber had an internship at Zootopia General Hospital in the central hub of the city. Once on the train, Judy and Amber locked paws and started bouncing up and down, squealing, "Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay!"

"This is so exciting! You're going to be a nursing intern!" Judy squealed.

"I know! I'm living a dream!" Amber squealed.

They commenced the excited unison once again. "Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay!"

"This is going to be a long ride…" Nick muttered as he took a blueberry from a basket that Bonnie had given him. He smiled at the bunnies' excitement. He admired it. It's as though their childish demeanors were in total control of adult bodies whereas Nick's own inner child was trapped underneath the consequences of the harsh realities of the world, only to be saved by a cute little bunny with monumental dreams.


	8. Second Chances

**Here's chapter 8! I am bumping up the rating now for two reasons:**

 **-Going into detail about Nick's father's death and using it as a device to drive the magnitude of wreckage of Nick's childhood.**

 **-Heavily implying that Nick and Finnick were/are (respectively) involved in organized crime, gangs, etc. Ever hear of the Yakuza? Sort of like that.**

 **So those are my reasons for this action currently, but it does open up my resources a bit. That's all on my end. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 8: Second Chances**

The next day, Amber decided to go to work with Judy and Nick. The hospital was in the same general direction as the ZPD, so it was convenient for her to get an impromptu tour of the city from her twin and the fox. Nick found it amusing, especially because every now and then, Judy would talk down to Amber in saying, "Don't go too far!"

"I haven't been on this side of Zootopia before!" Amber turned around and told Judy as she walked backwards, walking into a small mammal. Amber turned back around and said, "Oh, I'm sorry, little guy."

Nick craned his neck to look around Amber and saw that it was none other than his old friend, Finnick. He knew Finnick well, so he subtly gestured to Judy to run for her life.

"Little guy, huh?" Finnick's deep voice echoed. "I'd prefer 'vertically challenged' or 'he who bears a blessing in disguise'. Watch where you're going next time, Cotton Tail, or else."

"Or else what? I told you I was sorry, so don't go throwing a tantrum like the little kid you appear to be!" Amber chided and stormed around him in a huff. Finnick looked blown away by the backtalk.

"Nick? Bunny cop? Is she a friend of yours?" Finnick finally asked once he registered that his old friend and the rabbit officer were standing in front of him.

"She's my twin sister," Judy explained to Finnick.

"Cat had your tongue for a second?" Nick asked teasingly.

"More like 'bunny walked away with my heart in her pocket'. I like a woman who can hold her own. I was a second from pulling out my blade when she opened up her mouth! Plus, her body and face are my type, more or less. Is she single?" Finnick explained and asked Judy.

"Yes, but watch how you talk about her!" Judy said warningly to the fennec fox.

"You may want to rethink that, buddy," Nick advised Finnick. "I mean, ever since we went into…our line of business, you've never went out with the same woman twice."

"Your former line of work," Finnick corrected Nick on that detail.

"What? He hasn't gone out more than once with a girl?" Judy asked, appalled.

"Carrots, doing what I used to do is a dangerous field with dangerous connections. Connections that aren't friendly with outsiders. He goes out on a date with the girls he really wants to be with, but he doesn't ever want to drag them into that life. I wouldn't, either," Nick explained to Judy.

"You give me too much credit," Finnick mumbled as he gazed out at the street to avoid eye contact with them.

"I don't. I make a point not to," Nick disagreed.

"You do. You did for a whole year after your dad was killed by that speeding car," Finnick argued as Nick grew silent instantly. "Then the thing with the muzzle happened and the driver was found not guilty, so you finally lost faith in society. Now you're a cop. Ironic, eh?"

"Nick…" Judy said his name with love and sympathy as she held his arm.

"Quit talking like you know everything. There are good people out there. You just need to find them in the most absurd situation, which I believe you just did." Nick finally spoke, surprisingly smooth. "Carrots, it's just as Finnick said. My dad was crossing the street—with the right of way and on the crosswalk—when a car ran a red light and hit him. I don't even want to speculate about what the jury was thinking."

"I—Nick, I'm so sorry…" Judy choked on her words, imagining the scene as his words rolled around in her head.

"Thanks, Carrots," Nick said as he picked Finnick up and threw him at Amber, narrowly missing. "I've given society a second chance. Amber should get to give love a second chance. That's fair, right?"

"Eep!" Amber squealed as Finnick knocked over the garbage can next to her on impact.

"If you're not trying to kill her," Judy flatly replied to Nick.

"Ugh…" Finnick groaned dizzily. "I'm gonna rip your face off, Wilde…" He shook his head and looked up at Amber. "You got a cell phone?"

"Y-yeah," Amber answered cautiously.

"Here," Finnick said as he took a dirty napkin from the garbage he knocked over and wrote his cell phone number on it. "If you ever need a tour of the city, or if you're ever in trouble, or if you ever need anything, call this number."

"Um…thanks?" Amber thanked him awkwardly. She was confused and flustered.

"Finnick's alright once you get to know him," Judy, in spite of not knowing Finnick all that well herself, said to her sister reassuringly as she and Nick approached.

"I can vouch for him," Nick added.

"A-alright, I'll take you up on that tour," Amber agreed to go out with Finnick. She knew she was about to be taken for a wild ride with the fennec fox. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to be late—"

With a paw, Finnick cut her off and pointed a set of keys at his van, which was parked across the street. He pressed a button and unlocked it. Amber's face lit up; she was warming up to the tiny fennec already.

"Are you going to be alright?" Judy asked her boyfriend and partner worriedly.

"Yeah, why? Because of what we told you?" Nick replied. He scoffed.

"I noticed that you don't normally drive," Judy pointed out as she looked both ways.

"It's not my favorite thing to do, but I _can_ if I wanted to," Nick tried to assure the rabbit as he looked both ways. They crossed once it was safe. "Look, don't go trying to make any connections. It's not like I don't drive because of what happened years ago. I just find it exhausting. It's like playing in a rock band. Sure, it is fun, but doing it for extended periods of time makes you feel fatigued afterward."

"That's a unique way to look at it," Judy complimented the fox on his creative analogy.

"Thanks," Nick thanked her. "Shotgun!" He ran to the passenger door of Finnick's van to find Amber already in the seat. The brown-eyed bunny teasingly stuck her tongue out at him.

"Get in the back, Detective," Finnick told the red fox, who let out an annoyed groan as he got into one of the back seats beside Judy. "So the ZPD and where else?" He started the van and pulled out into the street.

"The hospital," Amber answered.

"Cool. You're a doctor?" Finnick asked, deciding to get to know Amber.

"Nope. Nurse. Well, nursing student, as of yet. Zoo U set me up for an independent study so I could help my parents at home and then start a co-op for my graduate school program," Amber explained.

"Mom and Dad have plenty of help; you should have done this months ago," Judy pointed out, referring to their 274 other siblings.

"I just…I guess I needed to be home for a while," Amber sighed. "But I'm glad to be going out of my comfort zone."

"That type of thing is always an adventure," Finnick said with a smirk. "I remember my first job. Man, was that out of my comfort zone!"

"Finn, the 'Miss South Elk Street' beauty pageant is not a job even though it has a cash reward," Nick told Finnick as he laughed. He couldn't help it.

"Nick, you're lucky we've got precious cargo. Otherwise, I'd start trying to claw you to ribbons."

"Whatever you say, bestie," Nick chuckled, still amused with himself. The amusement lasted all the way to the Zootopia Police Department HQ. He and Judy went into the building, paw-in-paw. Something was off. Chief Bogo was talking frantically to Benjamin Clawhauser. "Maybe they didn't have a good time at the concert."

"Are you sure we can't spare any detectives? Any other patrol officers? Anyone at all?!" Bogo implored Clawhauser to find a surplus of police officers somewhere.

"I'm sorry, Chief, but we can't spare the manpower right now! Officer McHorn has a family emergency and Fangmire and Delgato have off until tomorrow—" Benjamin was informing the chief.

"Chief, you have us, you know," Judy spoke up, causing the buffalo to turn to her with a defeated look on his face.

"That's what I was afraid of," Bogo sighed.

"Why?" Judy questioned.

"Yeah. We took down one and a half corrupt mayors," Nick pointed out. "I say one and a half because Bellwether and because—while it was for the good of the city—Lionheart still kidnapped and incarcerated those citizens. Lionheart was half corrupt, I think. It's complicated."

"Too true," Benjamin said in agreement.

"…This is why," Bogo muttered and opened a case folder. It was a missing mammal case. Nick's jaw almost hit the floor.

"'Kristy Wilde, missing'?" Judy read aloud, trying to quell the horror in her voice as she glanced into Nick's devastated emerald eyes. His mother was missing.


	9. On the Case

**Here's chapter 9, all! Where will we go? You'll have to read to know! The creative juices are really flowing, though! Maybe it's because my friend and I accidently crashed a wedding yesterday, even though that has nothing to do with the content of this chapter in any capacity.**

 **Chapter 9: On the Case**

Judy glanced into Nick's devastated emerald eyes. Her gaze shifted to his paws, which trembled profusely before he clenched them into fists. Before she could speak, the fox blurted out, "Put us on the case!"

"Nick…" Judy grabbed his wrist as she softly spoke. She wanted to calm him down—she wanted it so badly—but she knew that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

"Wilde, if I'm going to put you on this case, I need your word that you can keep your cool. Can you do that for me?" Bogo asked sternly, making it seem more like the order it really was.

"I'll practice self restraint on my emotions," Nick bitterly assured. His eyes went from devastated to cold and calculated, and yet they were fiery and determined all the while. Judy could tell that her partner was motivated, but she was nervous for him.

"See to it that you do," Bogo told Nick as he handed the case file to Judy. "You are soldiers of justice. Make sure you act as such."

"We are soldiers; stand or die…" Judy mumbled under her breath. Her heart ached to attempt to empathize with Nick's frustration.

"Let me know when you're ready," Nick said to Judy. She looked up at him, but he wasn't looking at her. He seemed to be fixated on the case file. Judy looked at the vixen in the picture included with the report. She looked a lot like Nick, only grayer due to age. She had his vibrant green eyes. She was wearing a blue sweater in the picture. She was sure the picture was recent because the ZPD went through the DMV and other organizations to be up to date on everything (though that's a contradictory statement in itself with the Department of Mammal Vehicles involved), but just how recent was it?

"…We can go whenever you're ready," Judy said, still holding his wrist. "Nick… No matter what happens, I'm not going to let you lose another parent. Not like this. Not ask long as I am an active police officer. An active police officer who loves you and wants to protect you…" The young rabbit woman almost broke down into tears. The only reason she didn't was because Nick had wrapped his arms around her all of a sudden.

"…I'm going to be alright, Carrots," Nick tried to assure her.

"We're in this together," Judy sniffled.

"Always. C'mon, don't cry. Sheesh, you bunnies… You're so emotional," Nick sighed and forced a smile even though he felt that fate and the forces of nature were going against him.

"Dumb fox…" Judy sniffled and returned the hug.

"Let's start with her apartment," Nick suggested. Under his breath, though not outside Judy's keen range of hearing, he muttered, "Back to the old neighborhood…"

Once Judy calmed down, the duo made their way over to Nick's old neighborhood. The street was lined with tall buildings and dank alleys. Judy kept looking at Nick. She wasn't convinced that he was really okay. "So…who do you think would kidnap your mother? Any old enemies of yours?"

"Maybe… I can't really think of anyone," Nick replied. He looked up. "Lovely weather, huh?"

"That's beside the point. I thought you knew everybody," Judy pointed out as she nudged him a bit.

"Yeah, that's the problem. There are too many people for me to think of," Nick explained as he kept walking. "Here we are." They had stopped in front of an apartment building. It was fairly average looking. Judy couldn't figure out how Nick could tell, but she trusted him. She followed him in to see an elderly badger at the front desk.

"Excuse me," Judy spoke up as she approached the front desk. The badger was reading a newspaper. He didn't answer. Judy spoke again, louder this time. "Excuse me!"

"He uses a hearing aid nowadays," Nick informed the rabbit and started writing something on a memo pad. He tore the paper off of the pad and stuck it in the badger's face. The badger read it and adjusted his hearing aid.

"What did you write?" Judy asked.

"'Dom, turn your ears up'," Nick recited what he had written on the piece of paper.

"Well, well, Nicholas Wilde, I haven't seen you in a long time!" the old badger, evidently Dom, commented pleasantly. "How have you been? Oh, I remember when you were just a kit. Sometimes, your mom would be out shopping for groceries and you'd play with me up here at the front desk. Ah, those were the days."

"Yeah, time flies," Nick chuckled. "I take it you know about what happened to her, so let me cut to the chase. Was anyone here to see her the day she went missing or the day before?"

"Well, your ex-girlfriend came in to check on her the day before yesterday. What a pretty vixen. Too bad that things sort of fell through for you two, ya star-crossed lovers," Dom chuckled nostalgically.

Judy couldn't believe what she was hearing. Nick had a girlfriend before her?! While Judy expected as much, she was under the impression that Nick cared little for romance. This was like stepping on a landmine. Nick said, "It wasn't meant to be. I'm just glad that Winter and I are on good terms." He saw the crossed look on Judy's face and teasingly asked, "Jealous?"

"Winter?" Judy asked with folded arms.

"She's an arctic fox. Lives in Tundra Town. Real sweetheart. Hot for someone who lives in a place so cold. She didn't really have the spunk that I find so attractive, though. Not like you, Carrots," Nick informed the bunny as he gave her a peck on the cheek. Judy avoided eye contact with him as her cheeks rapidly grew hot. Nick turned back to Dom and asked, "Do you mind if we check out my mom's place?"

"Sure. Very sorry to hear about it. I hope Kristy's found soon," Dom complied as he hobbled around the desk. "We'll take the stairs. It's healthier." With that, the bunny and fox followed the crotchety old badger up two flights of stairs and down the hall to apartment 3-F. With his spare key, Dom unlocked the door.

Many things in the apartment were taped off. Claw marks damaged the leaf-pattern walls. A leg of the coffee table was broken. Cabinets had been thrown open and there was a knife stuck in the wall of the kitchen. No blood. There was a shattered picture frame on the floor. Nick, donning a pair of latex gloves, picked up the picture frame and frowned. It was a picture of Kristy and Nick when Nick was a kit, wearing his Junior Ranger Scout uniform for the first time. That was the afternoon of the night that had caused him to harden his heart. He had always hated that picture, but his mother insisted on keeping it because she had always believed that Nick was more of a Ranger Scout in his heart than those other kids would ever be.

"Well, I'm amazed. It looks like your mom didn't go without a fight," Judy commended as she examined the claw marks. They weren't too wide or careless, but they spanned the entire wall of one hallway in the apartment. She was almost certain that the claw marks were from fox claws and that Kristy was trying to grip something to prevent her captor from taking her.

"She was always a feisty one," Nick told Judy. "You should have seen her the night I got hazed. Actually, I take that back. Be glad you weren't there."

"Noted," Judy said. "So…you were affiliated with organized crime?"

"I was a different fox then. Now, I'm happy where I am," Nick assured the bunny. "I wasn't overly involved. Just, as you said, affiliated."

"Nick…"

"The new mayor and Chief Buffalo Butt pardoned me for all of my past crimes, saying that they're outweighed by my ingenuity and what you and I did for the city."

"Well, it's like Chief Bogo said, we're soldiers of justice. You've shown that you have what it takes. He's not going to jeopardize real potential," Judy pointed out to the fox.

"I'm taking this," Nick informed Judy as he bagged the picture frame.

"Alright. What next?" Judy asked the fox.

"You're letting me take the reins?"

"If you want."

"Alright. We'll go talk to Winter next. When last I spoke to her, she was waitressing at a place called the Polar Café in Tundra Town," Nick decided.

"So…" Judy began.

"You said 'so' as a lead-in a lot today," Nick commented.

"Oh, shut up. Why did you and Winter really break up?" Judy curiously asked her beloved fox partner.

"Let's just say I wouldn't have been able to make her happy," Nick said and left it at that.


	10. Gathering Leads

**Hello, people of the internet! It is past midnight in my time zone at this very moment, now 22 minutes into Sunday, and I'm not the slightest bit tired! Must be that one cup of Coca-Cola I had five and a half hours ago. Anyway, there's going to be a little bit of controversial content later on so let me just clear the air now; I am a bisexual (finally came to terms with it) male who believes that a person has the right to be in love with whoever he or she wants to be in love with unless his or her individual character proves otherwise.**

 **Nick: I know I said I had great night vision, but that's no reason to put me on the night shift…**

 **Judy: (yawns)**

 **Okay, now I'm just the** _ **slightest**_ **bit tired. Here you go. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 10: Gathering Leads**

Judy drove their police car into Tundra Town under Nick's guiding directions. The fox instructed, "Take the next left."

"Got it," Judy confirmed. She was dying to meet Winter and find out why she and Nick broke up. Nick's lips were sealed like a beaver dam about the subject. "So, what's Winter like?"

"She's very giving of her time, so she should have no problem being interviewed," Nick informed her. "She's out-of-this-world cute. Kind of like you."

"Don't call me cute," Judy warned him. Nick let a triumphant chuckle pass through his lips. He knew she hated being called cute, but that's how he saw her. He had a soft spot for cuteness. Her spunky personality only added fuel to his fiery passion. Judy made the left turn. "Nick, which way now?" Every time she said his name, it was like she was tugging on his soul. "Nick!"

"Just keep going straight. We go right in three blocks," Nick answered. He was tempted to reach out for her long ears and stroke them in his paws. It would distract him from his mother going missing and the awkwardness and embarrassment he would soon feel when Judy found out why he and Winter didn't mesh as a couple. "She makes for a pretty good cover artist."

"A cover artist? As in music?" Judy asked, trying to fuel the conversation.

"Yeah," Nick confirmed. "She'll do karaoke on Fridays at the café sometimes while her significant other covers her shift. They've even made their own mixes. They've written their own original pieces, but those never took off."

"That's too bad…" Judy said sympathetically.

"Yeah, real shame. The right is up here," Nick told the bunny, who turned the wheel in response, which subsequently turned the car.

"Wait, she found someone else? How soon was it after your breakup?" Judy asked. "Sorry if I seem like I'm prying."

"No, no, I kind of pushed her toward this mammal. I said, 'You'll be happier with this other mammal than with me. You and I lead two different lives, anyway, and I don't want to end up on some hit list like Finnick is with half of the women in Zootopia'," Nick nonchalantly informed the bunny.

"That's very mature of you," Judy commended him. "I'd give you a pat on the back, but I'd prefer to keep both paws on the wheel."

"Thanks for valuing our safety over a short-lived congratulatory pat. You expected less of me?" Nick spoke, smirking.

"You're taking all of this awfully well," Judy commended him once more.

"I have faith that it'll all work out. I've got my lucky charm with me, after all," Nick informed the rabbit as he kissed her on the cheek.

Smiling innocently, Judy asked, "What lucky charm?"

Nick's lower jaw would have landed in the cup holder between them if it hadn't been hinged to the rest of his skull. The flirtatious compliment went right over her head; right between those long, flowing ears of hers. He finally managed to tell her, "You! You are my lucky charm!"

"Oh. Aww, Nick!" Judy gushed with appreciation until a realization came to her. "That's a rabbit's foot reference, isn't it?"

"Maybe," Nick teased. He pointed at a parking lot. "There's the parking lo—whoa!" Judy took a hard turn pulling into the lot, pulled into a spot, and parked the car in seemingly a single motion.

"Whoops. Sorry," Judy unapologetically said.

"Sly bunny."

"Dumb fox."

"C'mon, let's go," Nick suggested as he got out of the car. He entered the café with the rabbit by his side.

A fox with beautiful white fur, electric blue eyes, and a black waitress uniform with a navy blue parka over the top came over and greeted, "Hi, guys! Welcome to the Polar Café! Nick? Hey, long time, no see!"

The arctic fox hugged the red fox. Nick returned the hug and said, "It's good to see you, Winter."

Judy's eyes widened. This was Winter? She was beautiful and her personality was more like spring or summer than it was winter. Winter said to Nick, "So your mom told me you became a cop! The first fox cop! That's amazing!"

"Actually, I came to talk to you about my mom, but first, there's someone I'd like you to meet. Winter, this is Officer Judy Hopps, my inspiration and invigoration," Nick introduced the bunny to the white fox.

"How do you do?" Winter asked as she held out her paw.

"Fine, thanks," Judy replied as she shook it.

"There are a lot of similarities between the two of you now that I think about it. You're both easily excited, perhaps a little emotionally unstable—" Nick began, but he soon got an earful.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING EMOTIONALLY UNSTABLE?!" Judy and Winter got in Nick's face about his choice of words. They looked at each other and giggled.

"I've heard a lot about you. You're the first bunny cop ever!" Winter said in admiration.

"The odds were stacked against me, I'll admit, but I wouldn't let something like that crush my dreams. I want to make the world a better place. That's always been a dream of mine!" Judy explained as a wave of triumph washed over her. "And Nick here has been helping me with that ever since I was a rookie."

"You're still a little green compared to the other cops. It's a good thing I like green," Nick said to Judy.

"That's good, because you're even greener!" Judy teasingly reminded the fox.

"Now, about your mom, I heard from old Dom about that… Nick, I am so sorry to hear…" Winter began to offer her condolences.

"Thanks, Winter, but we're going to find her. We need you to tell us about anything out of the ordinary on your last visit or any recent visit to see her," Nick assured the arctic fox.

"Win, is something the matter?" a female snow leopard dressed in the same attire as Winter came over. She seemed protective of the arctic fox.

"No, Panthera. I'm just helping Nick with a case. That's all," Winter assured the snow leopard.

"Hm? Hey, Wild Wilde, I haven't seen you around these parts in a while," Panthera greeted.

"I wish I had been around last time to see you guys, but I was too busy not being iced the last time I was in Tundra Town to say hi," Nick informed them.

"You let Mr. Big capture you?! Oh, sweet shaved ice, Nick, you just had to sell the shrew a skunk butt rug… You just _had_ to get a great deal!"

"The skunk butt rug was a real eye opener for me, too," Judy informed the white fox.

"Keep a close eye on this one," Winter advised and Judy nodded.

"I'm right here…" Nick reminded them, feeling as though they were under the impression that they were talking about him behind his back. "Wait…did you see any polar bears in my mom's apartment building?"

"No, thankfully. Now that I think about it, a wombat I had never seen before was going up the stairs as I was going down the last time I went."

"A wombat?" Judy echoed as she pulled out her memo pad and carrot pen.

"Was it radioactive?" Nick asked excitedly.

"Your mother is missing and that's the first thing that comes out of your mouth regarding the subject of the mysterious wombat?" Judy criticized Nick's bizarre question.

"It was part of a weird dream I had when we stayed at your parents' place in Bunny Burrow," Nick explained himself.

"You two would make a cute couple!" Winter giggled.

"Way ahead of you," the red fox and the rabbit informed her.

"Aww!" Winter cooed.

"Good for you, Wilde," Panthera said to Nick as she wrapped an arm around Winter. Winter seemed to press herself against Panthera.

"Was the wombat wearing anything that caught your eye?" Judy questioned.

"Yeah, um…he had on a black jacket and I glanced back at him when he passed me on the stairs. His jacket had the skull of an angry bull on the back," Winter informed the rabbit as the latter wrote down the description. "And no, Nick, the wombat was not radioactive. Nick?"

When Winter said Nick's name again, Judy looked from her pad to her partner and discovered the absent, yet thoughtful gaze in those emerald eyes. The rabbit spoke up, "What is it, Nick?"

"An angry bull skull… A crime syndicate uses that symbol as their trademark," Nick realized aloud. "Thanks for your time, Winter. Next time I'm in here, I'll be a paying customer and I'll tip you twenty-five percent." He went back out to the car.

"Thank you so much!" Judy politely, yet abruptly thanked the arctic fox and followed her partner out. The way Nick stormed out of the café gave her chills, and it wasn't because they were in Tundra Town either.

Nick got in the passenger seat of the car and Judy got in the driver's seat. Nick asked, "So now you see why she and I broke up?"

"Because of your knowledge of crime syndicates?" Judy asked, confused. "I didn't even think to observe the context."

"Carrots, let me put it to you like this. They're like your crazy neighbors, only not crazy," Nick informed her. Suddenly, Judy understood.

"Oh! I get it now! Aww! Well, good for them!" Judy said with a pleasant smile. "And good for you for putting someone's happiness ahead of your own."

"I'm a saint," Nick joked.

"You're a sinner, but you're my sinner," Judy slyly told the fox guided his muzzle to her face. She then kissed him on the lips and thoroughly enjoyed all eight seconds of it.


	11. The Mad Cows

**Here's chapter 11, everyone! I hope you all enjoy it. I'm providing some insight on Nick and Finnick's past with this crime syndicate. If it gets mushy, it might be because of all of the songs I've looked up on YouTube and listened to as I wrote this for entertainment. Anime soundtracks and covers, mostly. Age with style, my fellow fan fiction-istas!**

 **Chapter 11: The Mad Cows**

Judy and Nick were sitting in their patrol car just outside of the Polar Café. Judy finally pulled away from Nick and sweetly said, "Tell me everything you know about that skull symbol."

"Alright, Carrots. You sure know the key to my lock. That skull is a symbol used by a crime syndicate called the Mad Cows. They're about as big as Mr. Big in Zootopia's underworld-and he's Mr. Big! But get this-while Mr. Big normally operates in Tundra Town, they hide out in Zootopia's underground Nocturnal District until nightfall," Nick began explaining.

"Makes sense. Mr. Big manages to disconnect himself from any evidence against him. The Mad Cows are probably in it too deep," Judy pointed out. "Go on."

"Finnick and I had teamed up and become a duo skulking out at night, trying to thrive in our survival. The whole excellent night vision thing is a great attribute to have. It's also terrible because you end up tailing the wrong people," Nick continued.

 _Flashback…_

 _Nick and Finnick were following a brown bull in a dark suit. He was a well-dressed bovine who looked as though he had something of value on him. Nick, armed with a pistol, and Finnick, armed with a knife, followed the strange bull into an alley. They brought weapons because this individual they were planning to mug looked like he could take on the ZPD's legendary Chief Bogo in a fight and have no clear outcome at the very least._

 _Nick went in first and hid behind a dumpster. He then rolled behind a trashcan as Finnick moved to the dumpster. The bull stopped walking and turned around. In the dim glow of a street light shining down the alley, Nick could see a nasty scare running down the bull's face. Suddenly, he felt his plan to tip the male cow over and take his cash get washed away be the fear that boiled inside of him. This bull gave off an overwhelming presence. Nick's instincts screamed. A pack of two wasn't enough to catch this prey._

" _I'll give you boys a chance to turn tail and flee. In truth, I'm a peace-loving creature," the large bull told them. "How's the count of three sound?"_

 _Nick and Finnick said nothing. From their respective hiding places, they were able to see the angry bull skull on the male bovine's chest pocket of his suit jacket. They had inadvertently planned to mug the boss of the Mad Cows, Mr. Bovina._

" _One."_

 _What could they have done? They could have taken their chances in a two-on-one fight, but Bovina was massive and nearly 100% muscle. They could have run, but they might head right into an ambush and take on ten or fifteen mammals._

" _Two."_

 _Fight or flight; both seeming to be terrible options, the foxes were stuck. Nick's paws trembled as he held his gun. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Finnick nervously grit his teeth. Both of them were cunning, even among foxes. So why couldn't they think of anything to do to save their hides?!_

" _Three."_

 _Bovina kicked the trashcan, sending Nick flying. He then grabbed the taller fox by his tail and slammed him into Finnick. The foxes were dazed and scared. Nick, choosing to fight as though it were his last hope, tried to shoot Bovina. He narrowly missed. His voice cracked as he choked up, "No."_

" _You've got spunk. Just remember you brought this fight onto yourselves," the bull's deep voice pointed out to them as he prepared to charged._

 _Finnick pushed Nick out of the way just as Bovina charged. The fennec fox then managed to block one of the bull's horns with his knife. Struggling, the dwarfed fennec growled with his own deep voice, "We're not going to fall to you. We're going to survive!"_

" _Humph! I think I like you!" Bovina snorted and grabbed Finnick by the shirt._

" _Finnick, hang on!" Nick exclaimed as he raised the pistol, his lifeline at this point, once again. Before he knew it, though, Bovina had gotten a hold of him, too._

" _You boys work for me now," Bovina told the foxes. "Welcome to the Mad Cows."_

 _End of flashback…_

"Gosh," was Amber's response to Finnick telling her the same story as he treated her to coffee on her lunch break.

"Yeah…" Finnick agreed. He took a sip of his coffee, but was soon surprised to see the gray bunny put a paw on his own paw.

"So you didn't have a choice…" Amber muttered. "You deserve better than those circumstances."

"…So this is compassion," Finnick gave a small chuckle and said. "I haven't seen that in a long, long time."

"Don't lie to me. It's not that you haven't seen it. You just weren't looking," Amber told the fennec. "So how did you get out of there?"

"Well, let's just say that Nick screwing up with Mr. Big brought an end to a certain peace treaty and was a blessing in disguise for us to slip away with. I've still be afraid to go out with a woman more than once, though," Finnick explained.

"Then maybe you could be brave for me. You were brave enough to intercept a charging bull. Surely a bunny shouldn't be much of a challenge for you," Amber pointed out playfully. They gazes met. Suddenly, Finnick kissed her. She asked, "What was that about?!"

"That is my answer!" Finnick replied.

"We just started dating!"

"Oh, so I should have saved the story for another time?"

"No, but most people don't kiss when they hardly know each other!"

"AUGH!" both of them grunted in frustration. They gazed into each other's eyes again and started laughing.

"Same time tomorrow?" Finnick proposed.

"Totally," Amber laughed her reply.

Meanwhile, Judy was listening to Nick's story. When he finished, she said to him, "You know I'll follow you no matter what. Even if it scares me, it won't shatter my faith in you, Nick."

"Thanks, Carrots. I feel bad for dragging you and Mom into this," Nick mumbled. His eyes watered. Only her. She was the only one who was allowed to see past his mask. It was because she was taking the time to learn how to do it. It was because she cared about him and he cared about her in a way that transcended the confines of their species; the confines of time and space, even.

 **Just to clarify: not all of the Mad Cows are cows. I thought Finnick telling Amber the story at the same time Nick tells Judy would be great parallel.**


	12. The Power of Regret

**Hi, all! Here I am with chapter 12, the twelfth chapter, el capitulo doce.**

 **Before reading this, contemplate which emotion is more impactful, love or regret.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 12: The Power of Regret**

Judy was driving the police car out of Tundra Town. Nick practically radiated anxiety in the passenger seat. Something had been weighing on Judy's mind since he told her his story. Thus, she asked him, "So, why did you pick a fight with that guy if you knew you couldn't win?"

"I didn't. I just thought he was some rich cow visiting from the Meadowlands district. Turns out I was only half right," Nick replied, gazing out the window.

"I thought you said that the Mad Cows skulked out in the Nocturnal District," Judy pointed out.

"They do. That doesn't mean the boss lives there. And they're not all cows, hence the wombat that Winter mentioned," Nick informed her. "If I hadn't been so stupid, Mom wouldn't be in this mess, and you wouldn't be, either."

"Yes, I would be. Nick, being a police officer and making the world a better place has always been my dream, even if sometimes it can be horrifying. That means that I'd probably have to face this gang at some point. If anything, this could be considered…a catalyst of destiny," Judy brightly told the fox, whose eyes widened and gazed at her face.

"I'm worried they'll kill you, Carrots," Nick genuinely informed the rabbit. Again, he was showing his feelings to the only one he could entrust them to.

"I have faith in you, dumb fox," Judy confidently said as she got on the highway. Nick stifled a chuckle. In saying so, she had essentially assigned him with the task of guarding her life. Sly bunny. He almost didn't hear her say: "So are we going to the hideout or the Meadowlands?"

"I think he knows that by now I'd know about my mom being missing. And he probably thinks that the hideout in the Nocturnal District is the first place I'd look. So…Meadowlands," Nick decided.

"Sounds good. So what does Mr. Bovina want anyway?" Judy asked curiously, hoping Nick would be able to think of a motive.

"Power," Nick answered.

"I meant with you, wise crack," Judy sighed.

"Probably punishment. I did kind of screw up a ceasefire between Mr. Bovina and Mr. Big, after all. Listen, Carrots, this is probably going to get really hairy. You don't have to see this all the way—" Nick started cautioning Judy to back out of the case.

"Oh, will you shut up?" Judy cut him off. "Nick, you should know by now that I'd follow you no matter what we go through! I don't give a flying pig about how dangerous it is! If anything, it's all the more reason for me to go with you! Nick, I care about you way to much to let you go it alone now. We're a team. Bring on the darkness of your past! We'll shine either way!"

"Carrots…" Nick muttered, shocked. He was more shocked at his own surprise that she would say this than he was about her actually saying this.

"…Do you want to use the siren?" Judy tried to playfully invoke Nick's inner child.

"Not this time. Thank you, Carrots," Nick thanked his beloved bunny girlfriend as he placed a paw on her shoulder. "Remember when you told me you knew you loved me?"

"Yeah," Judy answered, smiling as she drove onward. She checked her blind spot and shifted one lane to the right.

"I forgot to tell you that I love you, too," Nick said, thinking himself to be quite cool and clever in delivering the line. Judy said nothing. "Carrots?"

In truth, Judy was trying to hide the fact that she was completely flustered. She thought she would crack under the pressure of his gaze, the pressure of their connection. Though, she did feel that he deserved an answer. So, she blurted out, "Thank goodness!" She then slouched closer to the steering wheel in embarrassment.

Nick was initially perplexed by her reaction, but then burst out laughing. He said in his laughter, "I wasn't expecting you to lose your cool like that, Carrots! You've got nothing to be ashamed of. There have been interspecies relationships before. I mean, look at Winter and Panthera! Or your crazy neighbors. Or Amber and Finnick—I hope that train isn't wrecked. Or Clawhauser and Gazelle in Clawhauser's dreams," Nick pointed out.

"Speaking of which, did we ever ask Clawhauser and Chief Bogo how the concert went?" Judy suddenly thought to ask him.

"I don't think so. The first thing that happened when we walked into the ZPD was that my mother was missing," Nick reminded her, depressed again. "What do you think the most powerful emotion known to sentient consciousness is?"

"Love. It's a cliché answer, but you know the clichés can nurture possibility," Judy pleasantly answered. "Why? What do you think the strongest emotion is?"

"Regret," Nick replied glumly as he faced the window again. "Finnick and I could go on for hours about all the things we've done and come to regret. Those regrettable deeds were the foundation of us soaring through the ranks and becoming prominent members of the Mad Cows. I would go on and on, but I'm lucky I'm even here and that I have you. If I told you, I could add one more thing onto my list of regrets because I would lose it all."

"It's not like you to feel sorry for yourself. Or…am I like everyone else, talking to Nick Wilde's mask, unaware that he's breaking behind it?" Judy asked, her heart on the verge of breaking at the thought of Nick being in pain and never letting her know.

"You're just about the only mammal who can look behind the mask," Nick informed her, not sparing her a glance. "I guess you can say regret is also a driving force. Now, I kind of want to atone for my sins."

"So…I won the debate! Love is stronger! Yay!" Judy claimed cheerfully, not unlike a child.

"How do you figure?! And I didn't know we were even debating!" Nick exclaimed.

"Well, I won. The reason you're in this is because you love your mom, right? And I'm in this because I love you," Judy glanced at him, smiling. Nick met her glance and his glance turned into a stare. He found her charisma captivating. That smile tugged at his heart strings. Her love for him and belief in him gave him hope. He knew that she would follow him no matter what they'd go through. He wanted his eyes to let her know that he felt the same way.

Judy got on the exit going towards the Meadowlands. Open fields were like flower galleries. Colors upon colors vividly blended on a natural canvas. Pinks mixed with blues and yellows. Oranges mixed with reds and purples. Periwinkle and lavender flowers danced in the breeze. It was almost as if nature itself was trying to send a message.

"I wish we weren't in the middle of a crisis! I'd love to just come here to lay in the flowers with you!" Judy sighed longingly.

"They're called the Meadowlands for a reason, Fluff," Nick pointed out. "Hey, there's a nickname I haven't used for you in a while."

"'Carrots' sounds better," Judy said to the fox. She pulled over and put her hazard lights on, and then got out of the car. Nick rolled his window down.

"What are you doing?" the fox questioned Judy's sudden shift in behavior.

"Look! Violets!" Judy excitedly pointed out as she gestured to a patch of violets. "I just love violets! I even think Violet is an excellent name for a baby girl!"

"Well, you're not wrong," Nick told her. "It really is a nice name for a baby girl."

"Get over here, you!" Judy exclaimed as she reached into the window. She grabbed his tie, and he wondered what he had done wrong. She yanked him over by the tie and planted her lips on his, kissing him passionately yet again.

"Darn, I love you!" Nick exclaimed. "We've got to try to wangle another few days off out of Bogo when this is over."

"We're coming here next time, just so we're clear. I'm not going to go to yoga at the naturalist club with you and I'm certainly not popsicle hustling," Judy declared.

"Sounds fair, Carrots," Nick complied. "Now get back in the car if it so pleases you."

"Gladly. You do owe me a meeting with your mother, after all," Judy reminded him as she got back in the car. She turned off her hazard lights and resumed driving.


	13. The Mansion in the Meadow

**Hey, all! I'm sure most of you were expecting me to update yesterday. I was busy all morning and all evening with little time to deal with my desktop in the afternoon.**

 **I would like to offer my condolences to the family of pop and YouTube star Christina Grimmie, who was unfortunately killed the other night. She was a strong, talented individual who never forgot herself or her roots. The first time I heard her sing was when she opened up at a Selena Gomez concert in New Jersey a few years ago, and there were attributes of hers that I felt would suit my chipmunk OC, Cheyenne, very well. She will be dearly missed.**

 **At any rate, please enjoy the chapter and remember to try to make the world a better place. Pasta la vista, fanfictionistas!**

 **Chapter 13: The Mansion in the Meadow**

The road Judy was driving on was longer than she anticipated. It made sense considering how the pastures and wide-open spaces were arranged. If anything, it reminded her a bit of home. It was dusk by the time she drove into the residential area. Nick was fiddling with his phone, and this piqued the young rabbit woman's curiosity. She asked him, "What're you up to?"

"Well, I just realized that we don't have a warrant, so I'm calling on some probable cause to give us a hand," Nick informed her with a clever smirk. "So, I'm thinking we hide out in the bushes outside the guy's place."

"Nick?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you like being a cop?"

"Of course I do. I don't have to haul my own tail out of the fire like I used to. Why do you ask that, Carrots?"

"I just wanted to make sure you're happy on this path," Judy told him. "So you broke the truce between Mr. Big and Mr. Bovina?"

"Yeah. It was because of the, um, the wool rug I sold him made from the fur of a skunk…'s butt," Nick informed her.

"You know you don't need to draw out the phrase anymore, right?" Judy reminded him. It still perturbed her that he managed to get his paws on a rug made from the fur of a skunk's butt.

"No matter how many times I say it, it's still awkward," Nick confessed, his voice growing small. "And Mr. Big said he refused to trust any of Mr. Bovina's gang members any longer. Bovina was furious."

"So you and Finnick made yourselves scarce and stuck to being popsicle hustlers," Judy concluded.

"Pretty much. I mean, we've conned people other ways, too. I made a compass look like an expensive pocket watch before. I can get Finnick into any carnival for free and we've stolen funnel cakes. Gosh, I'm awful. I'm a fox of many talents," Nick declared. Judy simply rolled her eyes. She saw a huge mansion in the distance and had only one guess. To confirm her suspicion, Nick identified it. "That's the place."

"It's huge! Hey, how has he not been caught yet?" Judy asked. She wanted to be the first to arrest Mr. Bovina and make him pay for making Nick feel trapped for a fairly solid portion of Nick's adult life.

"Same reason no one can catch Mr. Big; no evidence," Nick informed the bunny.

"Well, that's about to change if our hunch is right," Judy pointed out. She turned right and pulled into a parking spot. "We need the element of surprise and stealth if we're going to do this."

"We're walking?" Nick asked, silently admitting that the bunny did have a point.

"We need the exercise anyway," Judy told him, got out of the car, and shut her door. Nick followed swiftly, not wanting to lose her in any capacity. They started walking, Judy a few paces ahead of Nick.

"Hey, Carrots?" Nick spoke up. He felt that she needed to hear what he had to say, and moreover, he needed to say it.

"Hmm? What is it, Nick?" Judy stopped, turned around, and asked.

Her violet eyes sparkled with such tender, genuine faith, love, and concern. It was almost enough to make Nick lose control, tackle her, and kiss her without restraint. The fox kept his mission in mind. He spoke, "Th-thank you."

Judy said nothing at first. She beamed brightly at him, smiling. He was astounded by his attraction to her. Each seemed so much like the other's foil, and yet they were felt their best together. Judy's emotions were nearly always genuine, and Nick was so in the habit of hiding his behind a mask that he had trouble coming forward with them sometimes. No one ever believed in him like Judy did, save for his mother.

Nick held out his paw, which Judy gladly took. He never thought he'd fall for a dumb bunny, but then again, she wasn't such a dumb bunny. He never thought it would be her, but they had opened up to each other in such a way that somewhere along the way, getting the carrot pen didn't matter all that much. No matter what would come their way, he knew he could count on her and he wanted her to count on him. She was the order to his chaos. She was the key to the lock on his heart. She was the paint to his canvas. She was the structure to his dreams. She was Carrots. She was Judy Hopps. Judy Hopps, the love, savior and best friend of Nick Wilde.

Nick was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice that he and Judy were now hiding in the bushes just outside Mr. Bovina's fence. Nick whispered, "How'd we get here?"

"Nick, you may be older than me, but you're not that much older; certainly not old enough to be going senile. We walked," Judy whispered back. "Now where's this probable cause of yours?"

Just then, an orange van that was blasting French rap music drove through the closed gate of Mr. Bovina's property and crashed into the butlers' quarters. Nick watched on, checked the time on his phone, and then answered, "Right there. And more punctual than usual." Judy had no words. Her ears drooped, slapping the back of her head. Her jaw would have hit the ground had it not been hinged to the rest of her skull. She was starting to think that Nick was insane, albeit in a sense that further fueled his ingenuity. Nick gently closed her mouth for her and led her onto the property.

Speaking her thoughts, the bunny exclaimed, "You are insane!"

"We have probable cause now, don't we?" Nick rhetorically asked with a huge grin on his face. He did have a point.

"Nick…!" Finnick called out as he jumped out of his van. He looked mad. "You could not have picked a worse possible time to text me! And worse, you call me here of all places!"

"Love you, too," Nick snickered.

"You owe Amber and me a day to ourselves!" Finnick growled as he jumped up, grabbed Nick by the collar of his shirt, and started shaking the red fox.

"We're going to kick the old bull's can. Want to help?" Nick offered.

"…I'll finally be able to see females consistently. We won't have to look over our shoulders and I won't have to answer my door with a baseball bat. Nick…let's make steak out of him," Finnick decided and fist-bumped Nick.


	14. The Infiltration

**Hey, all! Here's the next chapter. I'm really to the point where this is just coming together piece by piece. That and I had a lot of ideas for different stories on the brain as I wrote this. Now I'm thinking about an anime that I just finished. Now I'm thinking about Stacy's pita chips. That's a darn good chip. Look, a bird! Now, just in case anyone gets on me about the use of guns in this story, I did up the rating to T and there were guns in the actual movie. Just putting that out there now. Happy Friday, everyone! Pasta la vista, fanfictionistas! Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 14: The Infiltration**

A swarm of mammals wearing leather jackets with the Mad Cows logo on the back swarmed out to the crashed van and were quite perplexed when they saw no one inside. A wombat, the very same one Winter described, whose name was Reggie, grumbled, "Search the front yard for the driver!"

As the mammals scattered, Reggie looked back at the van. The driver's seat was elevated with a stack of books. The pedals were extended via wooden poles strapped to them. Reggie climbed into the totaled van and found an MP3 player hooked up to the console. He tapped a button, swiped the screen, and the player requested a security code. The wombat typed in "1234" and it unlocked. There was a picture of a gray bunny girl with brown eyes saved as the background. Reggie went into the player's music gallery and found a collection of French rap songs. His eyes narrowed. He knew whose van this was.

Meanwhile, Nick, Judy, and Finnick were trying to sneak into the house during the commotion, but Bovina's gang members were zipping all over the place. Sneaking into the place would have been so much easier if the crime syndicate was called the Mad Wolves instead of the Mad Cows and there was actually some uniformity in the species. "What now?" Judy asked.

"Back door," Nick answered and scurried to the back door, the fennec fox and bunny following. He jiggled the handle. The door was locked. The red fox, growing anxious and frustrated, started to check his pockets to see if he had any pins. Suddenly, he felt tiny paws pull him back as his dwarfed fennec friend started bashing the door with a baseball bat. The fox glanced back to see it was Judy who saved him from being caught in the crossfire of Finnick's wrath and said, "I owe you one."

"We'll settle it over a slice of carrot cake," Judy told him and stormed in with her on-duty weapon drawn the instant Finnick was done smashing the door. "All clear in this room."

Nick and Finnick followed the bunny in, Nick asking, "So how's Amber?"

"Fine until you summoned me down here. Now she's like a steamed carrot. A really angry steamed carrot," Finnick said with a low growl.

"At me?"

"Yep."

"For asking you to come down here and make a steak out of Mr. Bovina."

"Uh-huh."

All of a sudden, Nick felt Judy's bunny fist make contact with his gut. He doubled over, but his verbal and physical responses seemed to contradict when Nick wheezed, "You punch like a bunny."

"Amber just texted me with a request to punch you for cutting in on her date with Finnick," Judy calmly explained as Nick got up.

For her to be that calm and casual behind enemy lines impressed Nick and Finnick. It impressed them so much that Finnick said, "You should have enlisted to the self-defense army."

"My concern is with public safety and security. Thus, I have no regrets about being on the police force," Judy told the dwarfed fennec. "Besides, if I hadn't become a cop, I never would have met Nick, and I'd probably feel alone and lost. Maybe even scared."

"Aww, you guys are cute," Finnick chuckled as he nudged Nick into Judy, who hugged the red fox. "If ol' Reggie is here, he probably knows that the van is mine. It won't be hard for him to figure out. We'd better high tail it."

"Shh!" Judy shushed them both and hid with them in the shadow of a corner as an ox and a male rabbit stormed through. Judy thought she recognized the rabbit. He had stripes around his ears and head and he had vibrant blue eyes. _Where do I know him from? I know him, darn it!_

Nick and Finnick were counting the familiar faces, their breath slight. They had to try to hide themselves as much as possible to survive the hunt. What Nick didn't understand was why Mr. Bovina called so many of his syndicate members to his house. Perhaps he was expecting him to come save his mother. In such a case, coming to the Meadowlands was a trap, but he needed to find his mother. There was no turning back. He wanted to save his mother and prove to himself that he was a son she could be proud of. He wanted to bury the darkness of his past and focus on the light of his future, a future with Judy and busting perpetrators and eating blueberries and drinking coffee at Snarlbucks on his days off.

Using her sharp hearing, Judy listened for other footsteps. There were none. She peered around the wall she and the foxes were hiding behind and found a staircase leading upstairs. She motioned to it and stealthily crept to it. Nick was swift to follow her trail. Finnick stayed put. Nick noticed this and quietly rasped, "Finnick! What are you doing, Big Guy?"

"I'm not going," Finnick muttered in response.

"Finnick! Don't be silly; come on!" Judy took a few steps back and urged.

"No. Think about it; if all three of us are caught, we're as good as dead. You two have a mission. I'll keep watch and draw their attention if I have to. Go find your mom, Nick," Finnick reasoned with them. Though it pained them, they couldn't come up with an argument.

"Don't you dare get caught," Judy cautioned and rushed up the stairs, her pistol at the ready.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're not a total con artist?" Nick asked teasingly.

"Shut up," Finnick replied. Less was more, and that was all Nick needed to get going after the female bunny. Finnick watched them go up the stairs, and then ran out the way he came in, hoping he could skulk around the property to check on his van.


	15. Judy the Hacker

**Greetings, mammals! This is your host speaking! First, on the slim chance that anyone out there is an anime fan that has seen any of the seasons in the Jewelpet series (preferably Jewelpet Sunshine) I have a new story up for it. Only the first chapter as of yet, but I do recommend it because I packed it tight with romance and emotion and feels and more feels!**

 **Second, it's officially summer. I should have done this days ago, but I have been a bit busy. Have some happy sunshine-y days, y'all! Enjoy! Pasta la vista, fanfictionistas!**

 **Chapter 15: Judy the Hacker**

Finnick was skulking out in the bushes of the yard. His van was surrounded. The fennec fox grumbled something under his breath and picked up a rock. In the shadows, he lobbed the rock at the window of a tool shed. The window shattered. Someone shouted, "There! He's gathering weapons in the shed!" The hoard of armed mammals swarmed the tool shed, allowing Finnick to swiftly scamper over to his beloved van. Silently, he crept to the driver's side door, hoping he could still operate the vehicle.

Finnick reached into his pocket to grab his keys, but they weren't there. He patted himself, checking for them. No luck. He checked the ignition. The keys weren't there. Finnick felt a rare surge of panic well up inside him. However, before the panic could manifest beyond his body, a familiar voice that originated from his right asked, "Lose something?"

Next to Finnick was none other than Reggie the wombat, who was jingling the former's keys. Finnick's facial expression started as surprised, and then went to angry. The fennec growled, "Yo, give me those keys, man."

"A traitor like you, with the nerve to bust down the boss' front gate, send us all for a loop, and bring this trashy music with you thinks that you're worthy of these keys?" Reggie gave a chuckle of superiority.

"Quit it with the high and mighty attitude. You're nothing more than the rag that Mr. Bovina wipes his hooves with," Finnick snarled as he pulled his knife on Reggie.

Reggie pulled his own knife. The wombat said to the fox, "You lose, Finn. There's only one of you and fifty of us on the estate. I have you at knife point. You can't leave. If you kill me, you'll be tried for murder with no one to help you."

"Nick'll help me," Finnick said confidently. "He's always got my back."

"I heard he left you to be a cop just because some bunny with pretty eyes asked him to," Reggie sneered.

Finnick couldn't take it anymore. He took a swipe at Reggie's face and snarled, "You shut your mouth. That bunny is the perfect woman for him, and I think I might finally see in someone what he sees in her."

"So the rabbit screensaver on your zPod…that's your latest female?" Reggie asked with a voice steeped with poisonous curiosity. He seemed unfazed by the claw mark on his cheek.

"And what if she is?" Finnick snarled.

"She's too good for you. Your eyes are the same color, and yet, hers are prettier. Less tainted by a soul full of hate and malice," Reggie said, trying to sound considerate and wise. At this point, he was just mocking Finnick. "I'd be happy to take her off your paws, munchkin."

"Shut up!" Finnick scratched Reggie again.

"Your about as tough as a newborn kit, and just as easily manipulated," Reggie sighed, again unfazed by the wound. "You've lost. Accept it like a grownup."

"How about no?" a new voice offered from behind them. In the back of the van was the male bunny with the stripped face and the blue eyes that had inadvertently distracted Judy before.

"Who the heck are you?" Finnick asked.

"Savage!" Reggie growled. "You're going to betray us?!"

"Technically, I was never on your side. Officer Jack Savage, second-ever bunny cop," Jack Savage introduced himself. "And now that you know that I was undercover, I'm taking you dead or alive." The male bunny had a gun drawn. "Out of the cheap-looking van, Reg."

"…Fine," Reggie stepped out of the van, and then Jack tackled him and handcuffed him. "I have the right to remain silent, right?"

"Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be supplied to you by the court," Jack finished for the wombat. "Now where is Wilde's mom?"

"…Man, is that what this is about? We've duped the police! This is awesome!" Reggie started laughing maniacally. Jack slugged him into unconsciousness and loaded him into the back of the van. "Gag him."

"That's pretty left-pawed for a cop," Finnick commented as he got to it.

"Sometimes, drastic measures have to be taken. If the people don't like it, then they don't realize I do it for their protection. Whether or not she'll admit it, Hopps has done some pretty questionable stuff for the sake of a case, mainly revolving around her partner. Wilde's lucky he got pardoned for his misdeeds in return for helping save this city," Jack explained to Finnick. "I just want justice for the good people of this world who get wronged left and right. I want to truth to come forward. Besides, everyone's guilty of something."

Meanwhile, Judy and Nick had managed to creep into Mr. Bovina's home office to look for Kristy. They had no luck with that. They thanked their lucky stars with every step that Finnick's crashing of the orange van caused such unbridled commotion outside. Judy whispered, "I'll stay here. I know a thing or two about hacking and cyber-warfare. You go look for your mom."

"Roger," Nick nodded and sprinted out of the room and down the hall.

Judy booted up the computer. It was password protected, so Judy started rummaging through paper copies of documents on the desk to see if she could find a hint as to what the password could have been. Then the answer struck her like lightning. She typed "Taurus" into the password bar and she was in.

The password for Mr. Bovina's email was the same as for the computer login. She started rummaging through his emails. She knew that her clues wouldn't be obvious, so she looked through emails with seemingly ordinary subject titles. She went through a dozen email conversations. One chat thread was labeled "Milk Order". She clicked on it. Skimming through it, she hit a phrase that made her look twice: 'the vixen is in the den'. Then she skimmed more and found the reply to that email, which was 'Good work. Return to my estate and await further instruction. –J. Bovina'.

"The vixen must refer to Mrs. Wilde," Judy concluded. She printed out the emails and texted Nick about the evidence. She began diving into the system to do some digging around. Dens were homes for foxes, but they could also refer to a room in a house or a cave. Cave…

As if absentmindedly, Judy hit the eject button on the computer and out came a floppy disk. She was surprised that Mr. Bovina used such antique media for external memory. She looked at the floppy disk, and she saw that it was marked 'CARTRACKER' in big letters. Her eyes widened and she threw the disk back into the computer and fired up the program on it. Some time before Mrs. Wilde went missing, one of the cars that Mr. Bovina was tracking went into Nick's old neighborhood and then into the Nocturnal District.

 _Bingo!_ Judy thought. She heard paw steps coming up the stairs and sent Nick a quick text, telling him to keep his guard up and escape as soon as possible. She then hopped onto the desk, jumped up, and took a vent off. She carefully set it back into place and started crawling through the ventilation shaft. _Bovina's guilty, that's for certain. And I have proof._

Nick got Judy's text and figured that she must have figured out that his mother wasn't in Mr. Bovina's place of residence. Had Mr. Bovina predicted that Nick would pick the more unlikely option as his solution and done the predictable all along just to throw him for a loop? He certainly was crafty for a cow.

Nick was in Mr. Bovina's bedroom. Placing his faith in Judy, he climbed out the window and clawed the siding to keep from killing himself, then made his way over to the front yard where the van was, hoping to not be seen by the hoard of Mad Cows burning the tool shed. They really were mad, though not all of them were cows. Nick made it to the van and ripped open the passenger side to see a blue eyed bunny there in the passenger seat. Finnick delightfully greeted, "Yo, Nick, I made a new friend and took ol' Reggie prisoner!"


	16. On the Move

**Chapter 16: On the Move**

Finnick was about to pull the van away when Nick stopped him. The larger fox exclaimed, "We have to wait for Carrots!"

"C'mon, Hopps, where are you?" Jack impatiently wondered. He started thumping his foot on the back of Nick's seat.

"How old are you? Eight?" Nick turned around and asked in exasperation.

"Yo, Nick, that your bunny up there?" Finnick asked as he gestured to a second-story window of the mansion. Judy was opening it.

"What is she doing…?" Nick asked, heart rate escalating. He got out of the van, trying to figure out what was going on in Judy's head.

Judy had just finished opening the window when she saw Nick get out of the van. She smiled because her escape was going exactly as she planned. Judy dove out the window with a happy grin on her face.

"Carrots!" Nick screamed and ran to catch her. He did, his knees buckling from her momentum. What's more, he was holding her like a bride. "Are you nuts?!"

"No, I'm Carrots," Judy answered, obviously pleased with the position she was in.

"You drive me crazy," Nick sighed. He then realized that he was holding her like a bride. He took a moment of silence, and then said, "This is a good look for us. But how did you know I'd catch you?"

"I trusted you," Judy gave a simple, honest answer.

"That's all it takes for you to jump out of window?" Nick asked, perplexed and yet flattered all the while.

"Pretty much," Judy said. She kissed him on the cheek. "Did I ever tell you that I love you?"

"You may have mentioned it before," Nick slyly replied and carried Judy over to the van.

"Shotgun!" Judy called out as she jumped out of Nick's arms and into the passenger seat.

"This is what I get for falling for a younger female," Nick sighed and rolled his eyes, chuckling a bit as he got in the back.

Judy turned around and saw Jack in the back and asked, "We've met before, right? Wait… Jack Savage?!"

"Hey, Judy, long time, no see," Jack casually greeted her.

"You two know each other?" Finnick asked as he finally pulled all the way out of the longer-than-average driveway.

"We grew up together," Judy stated.

"We lived down the street from each other. And we shared the superlative for best eyes in high school," Jack explained further.

"I didn't know you became a cop," Judy engaged the male bunny in conversation.

"Second-ever bunny cop," Jack proudly told her. "You set a good example, Hopps." Hearing that caused Judy to let out a pleased giggle.

As he started driving towards the fastest route to the Nocturnal District, Finnick commented, "You two sound so familiar with each other. You guys must have dated or something."

Nick came to this realization of possibilities and felt a pang of jealousy in his heart. However, Judy and Jack just laughed. Judy almost couldn't control herself, she laughed so hard. Jack laughed, "Ohohoho, no…! No, we were just friends and neighbors."

"We didn't have the chemistry," Judy calmed down and said, then got back into hysteric laughter again, Jack following suit.

"Is it me or do they think it's funnier than it is?" Finnick asked Nick as he drove.

"No, they do. They definitely do," Nick answered as he gazed out the window, relief taking over his mindset and washing away the short-lived jealousy. He wasn't sure why it would have bothered him. He had gotten a lowdown from Judy about how she didn't really date in her younger years because most of the local males thought she dreamed too big for their tastes. Plus, they were living in the present and it was in the present that Nick himself was the one who had Judy to hold.

"That aside, I'm happy about where my life is now. I'm doing my dream job, helping the world become a better place on step at a time, and dating the best friend I've ever had," Judy announced with her voice packed with contentment. Nick's ears perked up and he faced her at that last part of her comment. He smiled as joy welled up in him. Judy went on, feeling his warm gaze on her, "And I'm head over paws in love with him."

"Well, isn't that cute?" Finnick chuckled in his deep voice and got on the parkway. The pleasantness in his voice gradually faded into frustration as he went on. "So cute that I nearly forgot we're going to the old stomping ground."

"What are we supposed to do; leave my mom with them? Heck no!" Nick pointed out.

"Yeah, he owes me a meeting with the vixen," Judy added.

"…Do I want to know?" Finnick asked the taller, younger fox as he drove.

"You know what? I don't even remember how that got started," Nick sighed.

Judy tried to recall everything she learned about the Nocturnal District. She asked Nick and Finnick, "So the Nocturnal District is a series of caves leading to an underground network, right?"

"That's the gist of it," Nick confirmed. "Carrots, make sure you stay by me the entire time. It's dark down there. I've got great night vision. I can watch your back."

"I know that it's dark down there! I'll just resort to my hearing," Judy assured. Nick didn't like the thought of Judy wandering around in the Nocturnal District alone. Judy glanced back at him and saw this. Smiling, she promised, "Nick, I'm not going to let myself get killed. Didn't I tell you that we were in this together? We still are. You know I love you too much to die on you now."

"Carrots…" Nick was awestruck. Judy was so brave. She didn't know what was ahead. She certainly did not care. She just wanted to do the right thing because it was the right thing to do; seemingly a dying art. Judy's bravery and kindness were just two of the many attributes that grappled Nick's heart like a precious gem in the clutches of a treasure hunter who searched for decades. He loved her with the intense brilliance of a thousand suns and moons. She taught him to be brave, to take a stand, to open up, and to love life. He loved life with her in it.

"Let's bury this hatchet for good," Judy suggested and held out her paw to Nick. The fox took it with a happy grin.

"Amen," Finnick said, liking the sound of that.

"That was more or less the whole point of me going undercover," Jack told them. "John Bovina is as good as behind bars."

"Double amen!" Finnick exclaimed.

"Thanks, Carrots," Nick thanked the bunny as he leaned forward and kissed her.

"For what?" Judy asked when she broke the kiss.

"For being you," Nick clarified, holding her paw.

"…You two do know you're on the job, right?" Jack asked them as Finnick drove on into the night.


	17. Judy's Plan

**Here's the seventeenth chapter! In case some of you wonder later on, yes, Mayor Lynx is loosely based off of Prime Minister Kayabuki from** _ **Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2**_ _ **nd**_ _ **Gig.**_ **I'm really into** _ **Ghost in the Shell**_ **. Fairy Tail is still my number one favorite anime, though!**

 **As the chapter title suggests, Judy comes up with a plan on how to address their current situation. It's a pretty solid plan with serious risk. That's all I'll say about it.**

 **I know it's been a little longer than usual. I wanted to give my crossover some attention last week and I've been busy with work and preparing for college and such. I've also given my** _ **Jewelpet**_ **story a bit of attention. I forgot what a balancing act three simultaneously ongoing stories can be. Anyways, enjoy!**

 **Chapter 17: Judy's Plan**

When Finnick's low beams hit a sign of a gopher in a hard hat saying "Welcome to the Nocturnal District", the two rabbits and two foxes mentally braced themselves for whatever what was to come. They expected Mr. Bovina and his most dangerous mobsters to be down in the caverns, guarding Kristy Wilde. Jack reminded the group, "We probably won't be able to get in contact with anyone outside the Nocturnal District because we'll be so far underground. If they think to set up a jamming field, our comm. links won't work either."

"We'll be fine," Judy assured, remaining optimistic. To Nick, who knew what sort of wrath he was facing; this was like drawing a breath of fresh air from a tornado. "We'll ask Chief Bogo and the new mayor to send us backup in advance. We'll also request that there be a blockade put up to limit the extent of any rioting. Here's what I think. They probably have an ambush in store for us. We'll keep them busy and have the reinforcements enter the Nocturnal District two hours after we're out of comm. range. If Bovina is down there like we think he is, then we'll try to keep him busy, too."

"So your plan is to draw out the battle so the guys after us can nab Mr. Bovina," Nick summarized.

"Exactly. You're sharp as ever, Nick!" Judy exclaimed, happy that Nick understood the plan.

"Hopps, this plan is suicide on our part. Our biggest weakness to them is numbers, and we can't cover that weakness for two hours," Jack pointed out.

"Regardless of our status, the backup will come. Besides, if I didn't think we can do it, I would have given up on this plan from the moment it popped into my mind," Judy informed her fellow bunny, brimming with confidence.

"Who is the new mayor anyway? I'm a little out of the loop without a certain someone," Finnick asked, nudging Nick.

"Her name is Yoko Lynx. She was born in a land in the distant east and moved to Zootopia when she was a toddler. She grew up with a passion for this city," Judy explained. "I'm glad she's our mayor. I can understand why some people would want Lionheart back, and part of me does, too, but there were much better ways he could have handled the Night Howler crisis. He could have at least informed the families of the mammals he quarantined and/or have taken them into protective custody. I do admire that he is a judge of character as opposed to an advocate of bigotry."

"Mayor Lynx, eh? Maybe I should pay more attention to newspapers," Finnick muttered.

"Mayor Lynx is great. She took Mayor Lionheart's Mammal Inclusion Initiative a step further. She's even thrown together some awareness events for the Initiative herself," Jack praised the new mayor.

"You sound like you want to be her mate," Finnick teased.

"She's more the Chief's type of female," Jack informed the fennec fox.

Judy took out her radio comm. and got in touch with the ZPD. She spoke, "HQ, this is Officer Hopps. Clawhauser, are you there?"

"You've reached Clawhauser!" Benjamin Clawhauser sang in response. "What's happening, Hopps?"

"We're about to enter the Nocturnal District. Can you please patch me through to the Chief?" Judy asked politely.

"Well, since you asked so nicely… Boop!" Clawhauser playfully obliged.

The voice coming out of the radio changed. It asked, "Hopps, are you there? This is Chief Bogo. What's your situation?"

"We're fine now, sir. However, I'm requesting that you keep an eye on our signal and have reinforcements storm the Nocturnal District two hours after it drops. During that time, Officers Savage, Wilde, and myself will remain at large in an effort to wear out Mr. Bovina's forces," Judy informed Bogo of her plan.

"That mixed-species mafia is involved? Just as I suspected. I'm glad you met up with Savage. Stay alive, all of you. I have faith in you mammals," Chief Bogo ordered.

"If you have to run the order by the mayor first, so be it. You probably need an excuse to see Mayor Lynx anyway," Judy teased with an amused giggle. "She's exactly your kind of female, Chief."

"You're just now noticing this?" Bogo huffed into his own radio. "As I said before, stay alive. Right now, you three—"

"Four, sir. We outsourced a little."

"…You four are the only ones holding this opportunity to placed Bovina at a crime scene so we can arrest him. He might try to declare war on the city before we get another chance like this. We mustn't let the Mad Cows function any longer. Keep your comm. open to this channel until the signal cuts out so we can monitor you."

"Yes, sir!" Judy confirmed the order as she saluted to her comm.

"She's a little eccentric," Nick muttered to Jack, who nodded in agreement.

"She seems smitten with you," Jack commented.

"Well, I mean, she likes what she likes…" Nick mumbled, flustered. He regained his composure and tried to play it cool, but his heart was throbbing at the thought of his partner and girlfriend, Judy Hopps. Her sparkling purple eyes, her long ears, her unbridled bravery, her sense of justice, her compassion, and her slyness all threw him into the tempest called love. It was at that point that Nick realized that his love for Judy was a resultant of the faith he had in her, and that faith was the seed of the confidence that bloomed from him being with her.

"You two believe in each other and are able to read each other's moves and wavelengths. It's like you two are soul mates. I mean, interspecies relationships aren't unheard of, but there are mammals who disagree with the existence of interspecies relationships and marriages. But you two have such a deep connection that only bigots and idiots could ever deny you two," Jack complimented Nick's relationship with Judy. "Cherish her, man."

"With everything I have," Nick said with tears in his eyes, taking Jack's words to heart. He had never thought that there would be those who would oppose a romantic relationship between him and Judy, not just because they were of different species, but because they were predator and prey. While the schism between predators and prey was mostly mended after the Night Howler crisis, it seemed like tension between the two would always exist somewhere. He couldn't let it bother him for his and Judy's sakes. He had to preserve their future, and he couldn't do that with doubt. "I won't let anyone tear us apart. If the citizens that we vowed to protect speak out against us, we'll face them paw-in-paw."

"Glad to hear it, Wilde," Jack said and put a paw on Nick's shoulder. His shimmering blue eyes told Nick that he was genuinely happy for them.

"Is everyone ready?" Judy asked the males.

"Wait! I've got weapons in the back! Pick your poison!" Finnick declared as he threw open the back doors of his van. Among the unconscious Reggie was a hoard of weapons that were probably illegally owned and/or transported and/or purchased. Pistols, sniper rifles, assault rifles, hand grenades, mason jars, swords, knifes, scissors, machetes, chisels, wire, frying pans, rubber chickens, tooth-brush shivs, chains, maces, chainmail, email, lighters, crooks, baseball bats, flails, and even a fire extinguisher resided in the van.

Judy's eye twitched at the sight, but Jack and Nick gazed in awe. The female rabbit rubbed her temples and began a mantra. "Ignore the contraband. Ignore the contraband. Ignore the contraband…"

"Ooh! This one is laser-guided!" Jack announced, practicing aiming one of the guns.

"Finn, where'd you get a paw grenade?" Nick asked Finnick as he held one up.

"I don't know," Finnick answered with a stoic expression on his face.


	18. Into the Caverns

**Sorry for the long wait, y'all! I was on a mission trip in West Virginia for a week, and then last week I was busy with work and another story and college placement exams! But on the mission trip, I got a couple of ideas. There's this one idea that I already have all planned out when I learned that a couple in the town we were in during the mission trip had adopted a teenager. I found that very inspiring.**

 **So I developed this idea, toying with the idea of Nick and Judy adopting a kid, but I don't know if I want to do that in this story or if I should make it another Zootopia story, but I think another Zootopia story would be more fitting now that I think of it. I was conflicted between the options as you'll see in this chapter.**

 **Anyway, here's one of those chapters you've been waiting for! Pasta la vista, fanfictionistas! Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 18: Into the Caverns**

Judy had to force herself to get over Finnick's weapon stock. Saving Nick's mom was top priority. Making Nick happy was her vendetta. She had to do her part. She knew that even if the sky were to collapse, they would stand as one, loyalty unwavering. Thus, she needed one hundred percent of her focus on the mission. Judy looked worriedly at Nick, dreading his expression to be full of angst. Much to her surprise, though, he was calm. He had his on-duty gun in its holster. There was also a small sword strapped to his back. He strapped a second holster to his belt. The gun to that holster rest in his paws and received a lost stare from the green-eyed fox.

"That was his personal weapon back in the old days. It's like a friend to him," Finnick muttered to Judy, who looked at him in acknowledgement. If she had a weapon that got her through thick and thin for years on end, she probably would have viewed it the same way.

"Why'd he leave it with you?" Judy had to ask the fennec fox. The question had instantly gained supremacy in her mind.

"He told me it was to stay with me unless an emergency came up. He wanted some independence from it for a while. He's not so bad with a knife either, but that's more my specialty. You know, I think you do him a lot of good," Finnick complimented the rabbit after his explanation.

"Oh, yeah?" Judy responded.

"Yeah. He stopped trusting the world when he got hazed as a kid and decided to live up to the stereotypes. He was trapped. Blasted bigots…" Finnick grumbled in disgust. He had faced bigotry against foxes himself, not to mention discrimination because of his stature, but compared to the hazing Nick got in the past when he was just trying to live his dream, Finnick was well-off.

"Yeah…" Judy mumbled in agreement. Her ears drooped. She herself—in spite of all of her self-coaching—had used such bigotry and hurt Nick in the process. Ex-Mayor Lionheart and current Mayor Lynx had the right idea; judge by an individual's character if anything at all. One's character is a true testament to their actions. Judy was so thankful when Nick forgave her. She'd been thankful ever since.

"Should we go?" Jack asked as he slung a rifle onto his back.

"You sure you can carry that?" Nick asked, finally out of his trance, holstering his pistol.

"I'm kind of a sniper genius. Ask Hopps," Jack informed the red fox.

"Okay, so he was pretty good at throwing darts at balloons at that one game booth in every harvest festival. And the squirt games. And he may have been good at skeet in high school. But…yeah, he's a good sniper," Judy tried to downplay Jack's self-glorification, but couldn't help but admit that he had a knack for sharpshooting.

"I have a night-vision scope you can put on there," Finnick informed the male rabbit as he dug around his van for said scope. When he found it, he tossed it to Jack, who slung the rifle back around to put it on.

"Carrots, I just want to let you know that this pistol is a registered weapon," Nick informed Judy and showed her his old pistol in its holster.

"I trust you," Judy informed him, though she knew that he should have known that already. "Nick, we're getting your mother back."

"I know," Nick said with a big grin as he kissed the top of her head. "And she's going to love you."

"…Say, did you meet Pop-Pop when we were in Bunny Burrow?" Judy asked. Her grandfather was senile and certainly _not_ a fan of foxes.

"I'm not sure I remember. It was a big bunny blur," Nick answered after pondering it for a moment. Judy sighed in relief. If that had met, Pop-Pop more than likely would have said something to offend Nick. "Why do you ask?"

"Because he can't get out of the eighteenth century," Judy muttered as she walked into the caverns. The two foxes and the other rabbit followed her in.

It was dark down in the Nocturnal District. Judy held Nick's paw. She had a keen sense of hearing, but she knew she couldn't rely on sound alone. She needed to rely on all of her senses and her partner if she was going to make it through this op. There were houses on the floor and ceiling of the tunnel network. Any streetlights—which were quite scarce—were so dimly lit that it seemed like a waste to have them from the point of view of day-dwelling visitors.

Nick was going to do whatever he could to hold onto Judy's paw for as long as possible. He couldn't let anything happen to her. She saw more in him than anyone ever had. He felt like she pulled his inner child from a prison of thorny vines.

"So…do the bats that live here have to go downstairs to get to their attic or upstairs to their basement?" Finnick asked. "I skipped out of physics class by convincing the teacher that I was my own little brother and needed to be picked up from daycare."

"How does that work?" Jack asked. "And where's this hideout of yours?"

"By the mines," Nick answered. "We're underground. Of course there're going to be coal mines and some free-lancing diggers hunting for treasure. Even I did some digging down here. Foxes like me and Finn tend to have a knack for it."

"Bunnies are good diggers, too, you know," Judy said defensively, but her thoughts were elsewhere. She started thinking about orphans for some reason, and she really felt like adopting an orphan all of a sudden. "Nick, let's go to the orphanage sometime."

"…Can't we be a little more shortsighted right now, Carrots?" Nick requested, finding the request noble, but odd and terribly unfitting.

"I just want to give some poor kid out there a chance…" Judy mumbled.

"We're not even married," Nick reminded her. Judy was glad it was dark, because her face heated up and held an awkward expression. Everything felt so natural when she was around Nick that she had forgotten that teensy, important fact.

"It's this way," Finnick led them towards the coalmining district of the underground network. "Mr. Bovina likes to station his moles and some foxes and other animals who work well at night down here." By the mines where some warehouses used for storage. There were Mad Cows roaming the area, but there was a large concentration of them around a bright orange warehouse.

"He can pawn off any treasure that we find. What I don't get is where my mom fits into all of this," Nick whispered.

"I think I might know. We had more or less anticipated being ambushed. But there's more to it than that. He's using her as bait for you. If he takes you and Finnick out, then there's no mammal in all of Zootopia who can spill his secrets and find a way to tie him to his crimes," Judy informed Nick quietly. She said nothing as his grip on her paw grew painfully tight.

Nick seethed with anger when the words hit his ears. He found the way his former boss was using his mother appalling. It was disgusting, disgraceful, and even lower than the Nocturnal District. What made him even angrier was that he himself had dragged Judy—an angel and true individual among the hoards of rabbits in the world—into this mess where someone was more than liable to be killed. He knew that she was prepared for that—being a police officer was a dangerous job, after all—but he wasn't prepared to lose someone he had grown so close to so quickly. Judy was someone he wanted to be even closer to. She gave Nick a future, and in his heart, she was the future.

Nick was going to make Mr. Bovina pay for using his mother against him, and make him pay with interest if anything happened to Judy. Judy nudged Nick. She asked, "What'd we do with Reggie?"

"After we got the weapons, I tied him to a tree a smidgeon on the tight side. I did want to be a Junior Ranger Scout, after all. I had to know this stuff," Nick explained. Judy wasn't sure whether to laugh or be totally perturbed, especially since Nick told her so casually. Nick made her laugh and smile. She liked laughing and smiling. Who didn't?

"Say…I'm thinking about joining the cops and becoming a black ops member," Finnick declared as quietly as he could.

"I gave him the idea," Jack proudly told them. Nick rolled his eyes, finding Jack to be a little too prideful.

"Let's just focus on surviving this op first. We've been out of contact with the ZPD for almost thirty minutes already. Here's what I think: the area where Nick's mother should be is probably going to be the most heavily guarded. Mr. Bovina may be there as well," Judy divulged her thoughts. "Nick, where's the nearest high ledge? Make sure it has plenty of cover."

Nick looked up and scanned the area above them. He saw one off to his right, and it had great cover by natural rock formations and a direct line of sight to the storage houses where findings from the mines were kept before they were shipped to power plants or high-bidding collectors (dependant on what was found, of course). He answered Judy, "Up about 75 meters on my two o'clock."

"Got it. Savage, can you please cause a diversion with that gun from up there?" Judy politely asked the male rabbit.

"You got it," Jack said and started climbing up the rock wall with the sniper rifle on his back.

"While Jack draws their attention by firing stray shots, the three of us can sneak in as a three-mammal cell and storm the place with minimal interruptions. If we need to, one of us can act as bait for a secondary diversion," Judy told the two foxes.

"I'll be the secondary diversion. There's no sense in splitting you two up," Finnick opted to be the one to break from the group next. "Find your mom, Nick."

"I will," Nick promised, more so to himself than to his friend.

From the ledge, Jack gazed through the night scope, wondering what he could shoot as a diversion. He then decided that if he hit the back edge of the roof of the target warehouse, then the five Mad Cows guarding the front would rush to the back. That would allow Nick, Judy, and Finnick to storm in through the front. That option seemed most likely to work after he ran some simulations of several actions over in his head. Taking aim, the rabbit fired and hit the back edge of the roof of the warehouse.

"What was that?" a weasel wearing an eye patch asked.

"It sounds like someone is trying to get on the roof!" an actual cow exclaimed.

"Aw, dang it! We're in some deep trouble of someone gets in here," a warthog with an abundance of facial piercings groaned in dismay.

 _I kind of wish I had set up a remote control sniper rifle to keep them on their paws. Hopps, I'll do all I can._ Jack thought. He prepared another round in case the guards needed more coaxing.

"So we should go check it out," a female rabbit said reasonably. She had black fur on most of her body, but her face was white as snow. Her eyes were a deep, dark blue. Jack's mouth flew open and no sound came out. He was awestruck by this rabbit. She had a resilient aura about her, but she hid troubled emotions in her eyes. Something about her seemed familiar to Jack.

"Three of us will go. Two of us should stay," a lioness leaning on the wall of the warehouse spoke up. "Jasmine, you and I should stay. You three go."

"'Kay, Leona," the female rabbit replied.

Jack suddenly remembered the bunny woman. Her name was Jasmine Hollander. She was always a quiet girl, a wallflower, and was considered one of the smartest students back in high school. She used to wear glasses with a bright red frame. The glasses were gone. It was almost like her whole personality was gone. Why would a girl like Jasmine join an organized, crime-oriented gang? Jack clenched his fists in frustration, and accidentally pulled the trigger. Jack could only panic inside as the sniper bullet whizzed from the barrel and hit the front wall of the warehouse, all-too-narrowly missing Jasmine's head.

Wide eyed and growing gradually furious, Jasmine cried out, "We're being duped! There's a sniper here!"

"Alright, we're going after him in a Z formation!" Leona commanded. She was evidently the leader of the five-mammal squad. "Four of us go. The piece of dung can't hit all of us if we move in a Z formation. Chuck, stay here. Jasmine, Diente, Maziwa, you're with me."

"Yes, ma'am," the weasel, rabbit, warthog, and cow respectively responded to their names. The weasel stayed behind as the other four mammals advanced towards the base of the ledge in a zigzag pattern. They were alternating to differ from each other. Jack was terrified and amazed. He had to make his escape, but he couldn't get his mind off of Jasmine.

"I'll take on Chuck," Finnick opted as he, Nick, and Judy watched the enemy mammals start to scramble up the wall. Leona and Jasmine were getting especially high. Judy frowned at the sight of Jasmine, but couldn't let it cloud her judgment. "Chuck Weaselton owes me money, anyway. And yes, he is Duke's cousin. He'd be a good black ops member, but he's…mysterious. No one knows why he joined up with the Mad Cows. He's good at looking out for himself, though. Probably why he was left behind just now."

"I have a good guess," Judy said softly as she crept along the vast shadows, still holding Nick's paw. When Finnick saw that the two were already on the move, he followed them.

"What's your guess?" Nick asked quietly.

"The same reason a lot of mammals join gangs when they think they don't have a chance. They don't want to be stand-alones and they want to belong somewhere. The black-and-white rabbit was a classmate of mine growing up. I always tried talking to her whenever I happened to see her, but it wasn't enough. If I had gone a little more out of my way, she probably wouldn't be here," Judy concluded.

"Don't blame yourself, Carrots. You didn't make her choices for her," Nick chided. "You know better than that. We both know that you know better. We'll straighten things out with her, later. And Savage will be okay."

"Right," Judy whispered in reply, chuckling a bit to herself. Nick just talked her away from the deep end, because she felt like she was heading there when she saw Jasmine Hollander wearing a Mad Cow jacket.


	19. The Wilting Wallflower

**Hello, Zootopians of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to our exciting ride called life. This is your captain speaking. Thank you for flying Air Ranger—ah, forget it. I just want to take a quick moment—though we have quite a bit of story left to go—to thank everyone who is reading this. Ode to Carrots has the second-most reviews out of any of my stories and the most views overall of my works. It's a landslide victor of favorites and subscriptions, and it does my heart good to know that so many people love it that much. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you and enjoy!**

 **Chapter 19: The Wilting Wallflower**

Jack kept his focus on the black and white rabbit, Jasmine Hollander, as she and her allies climbed the rocky cliff to his location. What had driven the smart, shy bunny to the point of joining the Mad Cows and having that cold, hateful gleam in her navy blue eyes? When the lioness, Leona, was getting dangerously close to him, Jack snapped back to reality and started jabbing at her with the butt of his sniper rifle. The lioness dodged the first two jabs, but got hit in the eye on the third. She almost lost her grip, but held on and growled in anger.

"Bunny boy, you're going to regret that," Leona, whose right eye was starting to blacken and swell to the point where it was noticeable beneath her facial fur, promised and grabbed the rifle butt on Jack's fourth jab. She snatched the gun away from him and whacked him in the head with it.

"Lady, you are wicked!" Jack griped and covered the spot where he was hit with his paws. He was caught off guard when Jasmine tackled him and had him pinned. When his vibrant blue eyes met her deep blue eyes, he saw tears hanging in her navy blue orbs. "Jasmine, what happened to turn you into this? You wouldn't hurt a fly in high school."

"You have a lot of nerve to ask me that. Y-you're just the ghost of a daunting and lonely past…" Jasmine sniffled and punched him. "The high and mighty Jack Savage. You were admired by everyone."

"We studied together—" Jack started.

"Yeah, that's just about it. We studied together. But when I wanted to make plans with you, you were always busy with someone else," Jasmine cut him off. Jack was starting to get the feeling that _he_ fueled the rage and hatred in her heart.

Judy, Nick, and Finnick were advancing to Chuck Weaselton, trusting Jack to hold his own. As Nick and Judy were running, they were taken aback to see Finnick zoom between them and whip out his knife right in front of the weasel. Nick called out, "Finnick!"

"You owe me and Amber dinner. Now move those tails!" Finnick barked at them and swiped at Chuck, who blocked with his own knife. The fennec fox and the weasel were engaged in close-range blade combat. They wielded their weapons with such skill that you'd almost think they were ninjas.

"Thanks, Finn! Treat Amber right!" Judy exclaimed gratefully and rolled past them and into the warehouse, Nick following her lead. Judy took out her on-duty pistol and held it at the ready, poking it into doorways and between crates before entering a room herself.

"Amazing. That crazy bull turned this warehouse into a mafia's dream pad," Nick muttered, also holding his on-duty weapon. His personal gun was holstered.

"We're going to have to scout the place out to find your mom," Judy whispered to her partner. She worried for his demeanor. Throughout the acceptance of this mission, Nick has been in and out of depressed moods. Judy prayed that Nick's mother was alright. She knew that Kristy was all the family Nick had.

"Say, Carrots, I just had a crazy idea," Nick said as he checked a corridor.

"What is it?" Judy looked in his direction in curiosity. She could make out his silhouette. It was dark in the warehouse, but her hearing allowed her to approximate how far away the fox was from her position. Thankfully, he wasn't far at all.

"Let's get married when this is all over," Nick suggested.

"N-Nick!" Judy stuttered, unable to hide how flustered she was, even in the darkness.

Nick said nothing in response to her flustered reply. He turned to face her, able to see her in the dark. He hoped to use his natural night vision as an advantage over Mr. Bovina. Judy couldn't see all that well, but she knew Nick was there. She approached him. He gently gripped her shoulders. They kissed in the dark.

Meanwhile, Jack was trying to grapple Jasmine. He reached for a flare gun strapped to his belt and grabbed it. He managed to top Jasmine, get away from her, and shoot the flare at her allies. The flare's burst startled the three mammals climbing and caused them all to fall. Jasmine went on, "You took me for granted, Jack. You told me that I could talk to you about anything, but you…you were never really listening to me."

"Jasmine, I didn't know you felt that way. I never meant to make you feel lost and isolated," Jack told her, his voice steeped with regret. Jasmine had already felt like a stand-alone. Jack only worsened it. It was all coming back to him. He'd know who to call for advice on how to study for a math or English test, but it was never the same bunny he called to go to football games or dances or fairs with. "I guess I wasn't really looking."

"And you weren't looking when I started scarring myself, either. You weren't looking when I was hazed or cast aside like a piece of rotting meat," Jasmine cried and pulled a knife out. She charged at him, but he blocked it with his on-duty pistol.

"I'm here now," Jack told her.

"Just a bit too late," Jasmine said banefully.

"You must have felt so neglected because of me…" Jack said guiltily. He pushed on the gun and knocked the knife out of her paws.

"I was falling for you, but you barely bat those beautiful blue eyes of yours, Jack," Jasmine sighed. "So I needed a place to go. I fell apart after graduation. It was then when I knew you had just taken me for granted. I was just the girl who studied with you. That hopeful girl with no friends died that day. She left me behind."

"Jasmine, that's not true. You just needed to belong somewhere. But you don't belong here," Jack insisted. He knew that she was a wallflower, and like all flowers, wallflowers needed love and nourishment. He had been the sun to her, casting rays of hope onto her. He had been the rain, nurturing her and allowing her to grow out of her shell bit by bit. He had taken it away from her, though, and the wallflower wilted without him. Then, a crazy idea struck him. "Would it comfort you if I blew my brains out?"

Jasmine's eyes widened in horror at the thought. Jack managed to hide his satisfaction and hoped that she would act as he predicted. He held his pistol to his head. Jasmine made no move. She said, "Then you'll set me free of the past. Go ahead. You don't have the guts. You're not bunny enough."

Jack's paw trembled. He started to wonder if she really felt that way. Was Jasmine Hollander really beyond saving? He sighed, "I'm sorry…" He pulled the trigger.

Bang!

Finnick was wrestling with Chuck, trying to get the weasel with his knife while avoiding the weasel's knife. It was difficult. Finnick snarled, "You'd make a pretty good cop, but you're too obsessed with power over others. You're kind of a jerk, too. Selfish. And your taste in music sucks!"

"Who are you to talk, mate? You listen to French rap music and you're not a cop," Chuck growled and gave Finnick a head-butt, sending the dwarfed fennec backwards.

"Not yet," Finnick countered as he shook his head, hoping to clear up his daze quicker.

"What made you turn towards those blue egomaniacs?" Chuck questioned as he pounced on Finnick.

"Love, Weaselton. Love from a brown-eyed country girl with enough grit to go around!" Finnick snarled clawed Chuck in the face and grappled him. He got Chuck onto his stomach and handcuffed him. "Good thing I borrowed these from Savage. Say, what's it like wearing an eyepatch?"

"I ought to eat you alive right now…" Chuck growled. "I have no problem with that."

"'Course you don't. Yo, man, this…this is for stealing my cookies on the playground in kindergarten!" Finnick yelled vengefully and started jumping on Chuck's back as hard as he could.

"That was you?!" Chuck gasped. "You haven't grown a bit!"

"And this is for stealing my first girlfriend!" Finnick kicked Chuck.

"That's not fair, mate! I'm not standing!" Chuck groaned.

"Fair? What's not fair is dragging Nick's mom into this long-since-forgotten crud! What's not fair is targeting a girl should I see her more than once! What's not fair is cutting us loose when we try to maximize on a deal and it backfires just a tiny bit!" Finnick snarled.

"You and Nick tried to sell Mr. Big a skunk butt rug! That's more than a small backfire!" Chuck retorted.

Jack was holding the smoking gun. Jasmine had grabbed his wrist and caused him to miss. Jack let out a sigh in relief as he wrapped his arms around the sobbing black and white rabbit. He said, "You know I wouldn't have actually shot myself, right? I have too much to live for."

"Like what…?" Jasmine sniffled in curiosity mixed with trauma. Jack was overjoyed inside. The Jasmine Hollander he knew was back. The wallflower was alive and in full bloom. Jack removed her Mad Cow jacket from her body. Jasmine was now wearing a black tank top and black combat pants.

"Making things right with you," Jack replied and nuzzled her face with his. "How about ice cream on Tuesday?"

"I'm going to be incarcerated when this is over," Jasmine reminded him.

"I'm going to fight for you. You're just part of a bad crowd. I swear you won't be neglected this time," Jack vowed. The next time he turned his back on her—given what it had done to her the first time—he might actually shoot himself out of immense guilt.

"Jack…" Jasmine whimpered and cried in his arms.


	20. Kristy Wilde

**Greetings! I don't really have much to say this time around. Big changes are happening, but I'll try to update as often as possible. Also, there are ages mentioned in this chapter regarding Nick and Judy. The first time I saw Zootopia, I started doing math in my head. If Judy stood up to Gideon Grey at age 9, 15 years before she entered and graduated the police academy, that would make her 24 in present time. Nick said he'd been making $200 a day since he was 12 years old, which Judy—while she was doing math—said was two decades or 20 years ago, which puts Nick at age 32. Please enjoy this next installment!**

 **Chapter 20: Kristy Wilde**

Nick and Judy trekked the dark warehouse cautiously. Though for misdeeds, they had to accredit Mr. Bovina for uniting a wide variety of species of mammal under his authority. Nick muttered under his breath, "The system is so screwed up…"

"Do you think they're holding your mom as a bargaining chip?" Judy proposed a hypothesis. They kept their chatter to a dull roar in order to communicate without drawing too much attention.

"Knowing him, he's planning something big, but taking it one move at a time. You think he's holding my mom for ransom?" Nick inquired. "You think he's trying to make a deal with us?"

"Maybe with Mr. Big," Judy said. "I mean, think about it. Our current relations with them, for the most part, aren't really a secret. Fru-Fru did name her kid after me and Mr. Big sent a thank-you letter to the ZPD in addition to forty-some-odd cases of Tundra Town glacier water. I'm on good terms with Mr. Big, and you're my partner."

"Okay, so what does he get out of Mr. Big?" Nick asked curiously, wondering where Judy was taking her hypothesis.

"If I had to guess, I'd say a territorial deal. You know, for business," Judy answered. She inched forward and when she set her foot down, the floor she stepped on gave into her weight a little more than expected. She started to feel the area around that section of floor with her foot and discovered hinges. "Bingo."

"A door? This officially is no longer a warehouse. Unless warehouses have underfloor storage nowadays and I just can't get with the times," Nick quipped.

"What are the odds of that?" Judy asked slyly.

"Hmm… Pretty low."

"I thought so."

Judy started to lift the underfloor storage door when a bat swooped down and knocked her backwards. The bat was female and dressed in a black leotard. Judy managed to swat her away and Nick drew both of his pistols. Judy drew her on-duty weapon and zeroed in on the sound of flapping wings.

"I thought it was too quiet. Stay away from my bunny, Sonia," Nick spoke to the bat like an old friend with whom he lost touch on purpose. "Carrots, Sonia Romania. Sonia, Carrots."

"I know who she is. I watch the late night news," Sonia spoke, her exotic-hinted accent similar to Gazelle's. "Well, the late-late night news. Nick, it was your own fault you left. It's a shame; I was quite fond of you. If you hadn't been dating that female-loving arctic vixen at the time, I wouldn't have minded having breakfast with you."

"Sorry, Sonia, but you were never my type," Nick informed the bat. "Carrots, get out of here. I'll catch up with you."

"But Nick—" Judy began to protest. She just couldn't leave him behind and keep a clear head.

"Go!" Nick shouted as he shot at Sonia with his on-duty weapon.

The bat stopped flapping her wings for a brief moment, enough time to let her fall just below the bullet. Once it missed her, she started flapping her wings again. Feigning innocence, she sweetly said, "Now, Nicky, I think that's considered police brutality."

"You took at a dive at Carrots. Assaulting an officer of the law. I think I'm more than obligated to respond with force," Nick shot back. "Carrots, get going!"

Reluctantly, Judy positioned herself to jump into the doorway of the underfloor storage. She looked back with tears in her eyes. She shouted at the red fox, "I'm going to throttle you if you're not down here in ten minutes, Nick! Dumb fox!" With that said, she jumped down the hole.

"It's a date," Nick assured with a confident smirk as Judy was gone. Sonia launched herself at his neck, but he used one of his pistols as a shield to fend off her fangs. With Sonia still on it, Nick threw the gun against the wall. He drew his small sword as Sonia used her feet to unsheathe twin knives. Sonia spit the gun out of her mouth and flew at him again, skillfully wielding the knives with her feet as Nick parried with the sword.

Sonia kept trying to fly into Nick's blind spot, but he wasn't about to let the sneaky bat out of his peripheral vision. He tried to shoot her with the gun he was still holding, but Sonia gave a mighty flap and launched herself further upward this time. Nick was starting to get annoyed. He made a promise to Judy and he intended to keep it. Judy, the one who showed him that there was more to him than what others saw. Judy, the one who he couldn't help but open up to. Judy, the embodiment of his ability to trust.

"Don't worry, Carrots," Nick mumbled as he fought the bat, "I'm not going to let you go it alone."

Meanwhile, Judy was down in a tunnel beneath the warehouse. Keeping an ear out for any hidden assailants, she took out her phone and activated the flashlight app. She kept the light on a relatively dim setting in order to avoid alerting any enemies that she was just down the hall. This infiltration op in the dark was proving to be something of a double-edged sword. The more she tried to hide herself, the less she was able to comfortably maneuver.

The tunnel seemed to run one way—there were no points where it branched off or had forks in the path. In the dim light of her phone, Judy eventually found something quite unsettling: a vast row of cages that expanded in both directions. There were at least two dozen of them. In the cage directly in front of Judy, there was a female red fox who looked like she was in her late fifties or early sixties, which made sense to Judy considering Nick was 32.

"M-Mrs. Wilde?" Judy called out to the fox.

"Y-yes? Who's there…?" the fox, allegedly Kristy, responded. She seemed weak and delirious. Her clothes were tattered.

"My name is Officer Hopps. I'm here to rescue you," Judy informed the captive older mammal.

"Oh, you're Nicky's girl…" Kristy pointed out. "Aren't you…? Pardon me if I seem aloof. I'm a little famished…"

Judy felt her face grow hot at the sound of her being "Nicky's girl". She knelt down in front of the cage and said, "Nick is a very kind and articulate fellow. Though sometimes he's enough to make me want to strangle him… But… He has a good heart and a level head. You've raised a good fox, Mrs. Wilde."

"Why thank you, Officer…" Kristy thanked the rabbit, but her voice trailed off and her stomach growled.

"Hopps, ma'am. I'm going to get you out of here," Judy assured as she stood up.

"Are you now?" a deep voice asked from behind her. Judy's ears drooped with a dreading slap against the back of her head. It wasn't Nick like she was hoping.

Mustering up whatever courage she could find within herself, Judy turned around to find herself face-to-face with Mr. John Bovina himself. She spoke, "So you're responsible for this."

"I am," Mr. Bovina said. His answer was simple. He said what he needed to. Nothing more. Nothing less.

"What do you have to gain from all of this?" Judy started to question the massive bull.

"What do you think I'd gain from this? I'm so curious to see what the clever Officer Judy Hopps thinks," Mr. Bovina taunted.

Choosing her words carefully, Judy replied, "I think you're going to use her to bargain either with the ZPD over some sort of immunity or with Mr. Big as a means of territorial business."

"Both options are clever, but I think your police bargain hypothesis is closer to what I truly have planned," Mr. Bovina informed the rabbit. He started to approach her. "You see…you're young and from the distant countryside. I doubt you'd understand on a personal level, but many of the cops in Zootopia have family here in the big city. One of the main reasons cops like that even become cops is to make the city a safer place for those people. One by one, I plan to exploit their need to protect their loved ones. They wouldn't raise a hand against someone who had their mother or father or child or spouse within arm's reach of me."

"You're a monster," Judy told the bull, her voice filled with anger and defiance.

"Am I? Or am I just trying to rebuild a broken system by breaking down the current system's defenses?" Mr. Bovina asked rhetorically. "Miss Hopps, do you know what the downfall of any justice or intelligence agency is?"

After giving it some thought, Judy came up with an answer. She replied, "It's when those in the agency start acting out of self-interest instead of those they serve."

"Precisely. Wouldn't defying orders and surrendering for the sake of a loved one be considered self-interest?" Mr. Bovina continued to ask. Judy was starting to realize that she had inadvertently let Mr. Bovina take control of the conversation.

"…No," Judy bravely replied.

"Then we'll just have to agree to disagree," Mr. Bovina sighed. "You're certainly an intelligent bunny, but you're too blinded by an idealist's faith and sense of justice. At any rate, Mrs. Wilde here is only the beginning. Soon enough, Chief Bogo will lose willing mammal power left and right. Then no one will stand in my way of rebuilding Zootopia, starting with ousting the Lynx Administration."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Judy growled. She had gotten a confession out of Mr. Bovina, but taking him in would be no easy feat.


	21. Past in the Present

**Hello, everyone! I think this story is going to be a few more chapters. Now that I'm in college, carving out fanfic time has been a little more difficult than it was in high school, but it's well worth it. College itself will be well worth it. I'm putting my efforts toward something great. Don't stop chasing your dreams, dear readers. Hard work always pays off. Hopefully I can update a few times per on-going story over the long weekend. Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 21: Past in the Present**

Nick was trying to fight off Sonia, who kept flying at him. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. He knew how to subtly take control and end the fight. Taking note of the underfloor passage entrance behind him, Nick blocked Sonia's attacks and took steps back as if he was losing ground. He was about five feet from the hatch when Sonia caught onto his plan and rushed to Nick's right side and began going at him from there.

Nick countered her twin knives with his small sword. Steel on steel, hate on hate, betrayal on betrayal. Sparks flew from the intense clashing of metal. Nick pulled away from Sonia and ran for the gun he threw, Sonia in hot pursuit. With a tuck and a roll, Nick grabbed the gun and shot one of the knifes out of Sonia's grip.

"Either your aim has worsened or it's gotten better, sweetheart, because I'm down one weapon and still in one piece," Sonia informed Nick of her observation, seemingly taunting him. "Come get some."

"Sorry, but I've got a girlfriend. You know, the whole loyalty thing," Nick casually replied to Sonia's taunt. "She and I are closer than I thought we'd be. I want her on my side when the end of the world is coming."

"You won't get the chance, Nicholas. It's time to put you down," Sonia claimed as she made a move for Nick's neck. He blocked her fangs with his wrist and grimaced as she sank her fangs in.

"I made a promise," Nick said with a low growl, "and I'm going to keep it!" With that, Nick slammed his wrist, and subsequently Sonia, into the floor and put his weight on the bat. "Say uncle! Tap out! Give up! What am I missing? Oh, yeah. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."

Sonia gave a muffled response, gagged by the fox's wrist in her mouth.

Finnick ran in to see Nick holding Sonia down and said, "Hey, it's Patsy Batsy!"

Nick asked urgently, "Finn, can you handle her for me? I'm going after Carrots!"

"Yo, man, I've got you," Finnick said as he held up a roll of duct tape. "Got this off the popped weasel."

"How's Savage?" Nick asked as he let Finnick take over holding Sonia down.

"That's a good question. Ah, he's probably fine," Finnick replied nonchalantly. He was getting a little too into the intensity of the brawl in the coalmining district. His response made Nick hope intensely that the rest of the ZPD would be there soon.

"I hope you're right," Nick sighed and jumped down the hole. Getting to Judy and making sure that she was okay was his new top priority. Running down the hall gave him time to reason with himself. He concluded that given Judy and Kristy's relative positions in this dilemma, Judy was in more imminent danger than Kristy.

Meanwhile, Jasmine was standing between Jack and the remainder of her squad. Leona, Maziwa and Diente eventually managed to climb the cliff while Jack was consoling Jasmine. The black and white rabbit begged, "Please don't hurt him!"

"Jaz, have you lost your mind?" Leona snarled.

"I… I will be brave… I won't let you take him away from me! Every breath I've taken has led to this moment!" Jasmine said defiantly, tears running down her face.

"He's using you, Jaz," Leona told Jasmine.

"I would have shot himself over my mistakes!" Jasmine insisted.

"He was bluffing," Diente theorized.

"Cops do it all the time. He's just going to arrest you and send you to some courtroom to be locked away," Maziwa added.

"Jack…?" Jasmine turned to Jack, hoping for a different answer.

"Jasmine, I…I do have to arrest you…" Jack admitted. He didn't want to do it. Jasmine had gotten mixed in with a bad crowd because no one else was there for her. She didn't want to be a standalone, and he couldn't blame her. Jasmine had panic written all over her face. She shook her head in small movements and took tiny steps away from Jack. "Jaz, no! Look, depending on how compliant you are, I can get all of you the most stellar plea bargains in the history of Zootopia's judicial system!"

"Jack, I…I can't…I can't handle prison…" Jasmine sniffled. "I don't want to be locked up by a broken system."

"You could get jobs as cops!" Jack offered.

"Who would take a gang member and a criminal into the police academy?" Leona crossed her arms and demanded for a rational answer.

Jack had nothing solid other than one particular example. He exclaimed, "Your old pal Nick has done it!"

"Nick doesn't have a record," Diente informed Jack.

"You guys, there is more to your lives than just…this. Please… Jasmine, don't do this," Jack begged. "I admit that I neglected you in high school. I admit I sent you mixed signals. I admit that once we parted ways, you were a memory. I own all of that! Please, let me make it right…"

Jasmine said nothing. She looked like she was carefully considering Jack's words. She wasn't sure if she could believe him or if she even wanted to.

"Get him," Leona ordered.

"FREEZE! ZPD! EVERYONE, PUT YOUR PAWS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM! YOU ARE ALL UNDER ARREST FOR OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE!" a deep voice bellowed. None other than Chief Bogo himself, surrounded by Zootopia police officers, arrived on the scene. A wave of blue-clad mammals swarmed the four Mad Cow members. Chief Bogo asked Jack, "Savage, what's the situation?"

Jack shook his head wildly, trying to get any trace of guilt out of his mind so he could answer. The rabbit said, "Officers Wilde and Hopps went on ahead. I was in charge of the diversion."

"Good work," Chief Bogo flatly commended the male rabbit and was about to go towards the warehouses. Jack grabbed the cape buffalo's wrist. "Hmm?"

"Let me speak to the black and white rabbit, sir. I need this…" Jack requested, never feeling smaller in his life than he did right then and there.

"…You've got two minutes. Bring the white and black rabbit over here!" Bogo bellowed. Officers Fangmeyer and Delgato carried Jasmine over to Jack.

"Jaz, please, I want to make this easy for you… I'm going to need you to tell me some things. Why did Mr. Bovina kidnap Officer Wilde's mother?" Jack began an interrogation.

"So that he'd stand down. Family by family, Mr. Bovina wants to crush the ZPD to make it easier to oust the Lynx Administration. He stays in a room with Mrs. Wilde at all times. They're in an underground passage in one of the warehouses," Jasmine told Jack more than he had asked for. "Do you want to know anything else?"

"As much as you know," Jack said, hoping that the law would consider Jasmine's confession as compliance to the completion of the case.

"You're the devil," Jasmine told Jack with a glare of hate and betrayal in her eyes. It was as if she was saying 'How could you?'

"Jasmine, I wasn't trying to use you. I'll fight for you. I'll get you the best lawyers. I—" Jack insisted. He wasn't going to let Jasmine go again.

"But I still love you," Jasmine informed Jack with a small smile. She gave Jack a peck on the cheek and she was taken away.

"You did nothing wrong," Chief Bogo told Jack and started making his way towards the warehouse. Jack kept his feeling of disagreement to himself. Then, his mood lifted when Bogo called back to him, "They are all first offenders who gave us even a little information! I'm sure that the right judge will let them off easy!"

Meanwhile, Nick sprinted down the corridor he found himself in until he ran into a lit room. Directly in front of him was his mother in a cell. Nick exclaimed, "Mom!" He ran to her and started to pick the lock. "Don't worry; you'll be fine!"

"N-Nick, your partner…" Kristy stammered and weakly pointed to a corner of the room. Nick followed her finger with his gaze and eventually found his partner, best friend, girlfriend and soulmate unconscious in the corner of the room.

"Carrots…!" Nick could barely speak. He crawled over to her body and held her close. She was warm. She was still breathing. Nick was relieved that she was still alive. She was limp, though, and looked like she had taken a serious beating.

"She certainly was a challenge. It's no wonder you were attracted to her," Mr. Bovina stepped out of the shadows, rubbing his seemingly sore jaw. One of his arms hung limply. Mr. Bovina took note of Nick staring at it and said, "Oh, this old thing? She managed to dislocate it. She has a knack for using one's own weight against them. Did you ever notice that?"

"I'm going to rip you apart for this…!" Nick growled, his anger rapidly increasing.

"Are you? How…very much like you. I take you into my organization. I give you a home, a lifestyle, a means of survival. I give you the world on a silver platter and you bit the hoof feeding you, Nick," Mr. Bovina said, walking towards Nick in a casual manner. "You ruin any chance of diplomatic relations with Mr. Big for the sake of some short term per capita, flee the scene with Finnick, and leave the rest of us in the fire."

Nick was watching his past unfold before his eyes. He snarled, "Thanks to this little bunny and her big heart, the present is different. If you want power, then go boss some people around in the slammer."

"She's sharp as a tack. She also seemed quite smitten with you. Her sense of justice was a bit naïve, but I've encountered worse. Now…" Mr. Bovina continued talking to Nick as if he was an old friend. He cracked his neck, releasing any tension that built up from fighting Judy. "How long can you protect her while squaring off with me?"

Nick nuzzled Judy's face as he cradled her in his arms. He whispered into her long ears, "I'm sorry I dragged you into this."


	22. Breaking Free

**Hello, all! How are you today? I'm back, putting on another chapter. We're still maybe a few chapters from the end, but it's all winding down from here. Please enjoy!**

 **Chapter 22: Breaking Free**

Nick gently set Judy down and kissed her cheek. He looked at his poor old mother, who looked terrified stiff. Suppressing the anger welling up inside of him was no easy task. He never should have left her. He never should have let her go on her own. They were partners. They needed to be able to protect each other. They were supposed to rely on each other for a support system. Nick turned to Mr. Bovina and demanded, "What did you do?"

"We simply squared off," Mr. Bovina replied. "Did you want details?"

"Every last granular of detail," Nick growled. "Tell me as much as possible."

"Are you sure you can handle it, Nick? Even if I mention every crack of bone and every grunt of dismay?" Mr. Bovina taunted. When Nick kept a steady, hateful gaze, Mr. Bovina took that as his cue to tell about the fight between himself and Judy.

 _Flashback…_

 _Judy made the first move, charging at Mr. Bovina. Mr. Bovina took a swing at her, but she rolled under his fist and tackled one of his legs, knocking him off balance and toppling him. Holding onto his leg, Judy took out her gun and was about to shoot. Mr. Bovina kicked her off before she could pull the trigger. He let out a snort, got up and prepared to charge. For a large bull, he moved faster than expected. Judy, who was dazed from the kick, found herself pinned to the wall by Mr. Bovina's head. The wind was knocked out of her._

" _Not bad, rabbit," Mr. Bovina commended as he backed up. Judy fell to the ground._

" _I won't…go down like that…" Judy wheezed as she got up and regained her footing. She was glad that she worked on her abdominals whenever she found the time. She raised her gun, but instead of shooting, she threw it at the bull, hitting him square in the forehead._

" _Argh! What was the point of that—" Mr. Bovina started to ask, but made the reflexive mistake of squeezing his eyes shut from the pain. Judy took that moment to leap up and kick him in the right side of the face._

" _Don't underestimate me…" Judy started as she grabbed onto his horn and kept kicking that one spot, "just because I'm a bunny!"_

" _Point taken!" Mr. Bovina exclaimed as he tore Judy off of him and threw her at the wall. He went to punch her again, but she used the momentum of his fist against him by jumping at his arm and kicking it back into the right side of his face. To be more accurate, she redirected his punch to the right side of his jaw where she had been kicking before. "Argh… You cursed rabbit…!" He punted her into the wall on the other side of the room._

" _Oh, dear!" Kristy cried out._

" _Nick…I've given you an opening…" Judy mumbled. She tried to will herself up, but her body wouldn't respond to her commands. "I'll leave the rest to you…" Mr. Bovina stepped on her with a mighty stomp that seemed to shake the entire room._

 _End of flashback…_

"You monster…!" Nick seethed. He wouldn't let Mr. Bovina lay another hoof on Judy. Judy had mentioned that she had left an opening for him. He assumed that she had meant the right side of Mr. Bovina's jaw.

"She made the first move. I'd consider that police brutality," Mr. Bovina remarked.

"Shut your mouth!" Nick growled with his claws out as he pounced. He landed on Mr. Bovina's face and started punching, kicking and clawing at the bull's jaw. "Why won't you go down?!" In his anger, he gave Mr. Bovina a mighty headbutt.

"Why you…!" Mr. Bovina threw Nick off and held his forehead. Nick then remembered the part of the story where Judy hit Mr. Bovina between the eyes with her gun. The red fox smirked in satisfaction. The bull asked, "Why are you so amused, fox?"

"So that's what you meant," Nick said, glancing back at the unconscious rabbit. "Man, I love you, Carrots! Thanks for the opening."

"Whatever you're blathering about won't help you," Mr. Bovina assured and prepared to charge.

"For a renowned crime boss, you're not smart, are you? Well, I guess that move would be bold on your part," Nick said as he took Mr. Bovina's advance head on. He felt the raging bull's hard skull ram into his stomach. "Oof! Say…how much did it hurt when you were hit with that gun?"

"…" Mr. Bovina didn't answer as he rammed Nick into the wall. When he did, he asked, "What do you ask?"

"Because," Nick groaned, "something tells me that my partner set this up so I could knock you out with a brain concussion!" With that, Nick jammed his elbow into Mr. Bovina's forehead, ignoring the tingling pain that came as a consequence of doing so.

"Why you…!" Mr. Bovina snarled as he punched Nick, but the fox would not let up. He was too furious. Years of looking over his shoulder and trying to survive as a con-artist, believing he could never be more and believing that the day where he wouldn't wake up would come sooner rather than later had developed into pent-up anger and aggression. Nick knew his rage wouldn't be quelled until he had taken Bovina down with his own paws.

"This is for annexing me into your stupid gang!" Nick snarled as he elbowed the bull. "This one's for kidnapping my mother!" He elbowed him again. "This is for Finnick!" He elbowed him again. "This one's for the heck of it!" He elbowed him again. He balled his paw into a fist and held it with the other paw. "This one's for hurting Judy!" He brought the reinforced fist down on the bull, who subsequently collapsed.

"Wilde, what's the—oh," Bogo charged in, ready to rumble when he saw Nick standing over the bull. "I see you have everything under control."

"Yes, sir," Nick replied with a grin. His smile instantly vanished when he remembered Judy. "Get a medic for Hopps!" With that said, he shot the lock on his mother's cell and helped her out.

Luckily, radio worked short distances underground. Bogo put in an order to the other cops, "Send a medic down here immediately."

"Y-yes, sir!" the responding officer replied.

"Thank you for setting me free," Nick thanked Judy as he held her unconscious body. He was thankful beyond what words could describe for her being alive, but he had to know just how badly that fight had injured her. He needed to know if this event would put her life in increased danger in the future. Their future. Judy was definitely brave. She was so brave that her bravery would shine on his darkest night. "I love you, Carrots… Don't leave me, Judy…"


	23. Holder of My Heart

**Hello, all! I just want to say thank you one more time because this will be the last chapter of Ode to Carrots. Thank you all so very much for reading! You've been a great audience and I love how hyped you guys get, always wanting more! I'm sad to see this end, but all good things must come to an end. That is the nature of life. I do already have plans for another Zootopia story. I am not sure when I will get around to writing it (hopefully soon, though). I'm really excited for it! I probably should finish my other stories first, but whatever. Anyway, please enjoy this last installment and thank you all for reading!**

 **Chapter 23: Holder of My Heart**

Nick didn't even stick around to watch Mr. Bovina get loaded into the police car; he had one desire, and that was to stay with Judy as much as possible. The female rabbit had to be rushed to the hospital so that the extent of her injuries could be determined. Nick was terrified. He was terrified of losing Judy. The mask that hid his emotions was starting to fall apart. He gripped her paw as they rode in the back of the ambulance. He must have looked awful, because the paramedics kept telling him not to worry. Nick wondered how Judy was still alive after taking such an abundant amount of punishment. Of course, Nick had his own injuries. He didn't feel any of them; his heart ached too much.

"Please wake up soon," Nick begged, his voice softer than that of a newborn kit. He felt so small. All he had done was finish what Judy started. Judy was the real hero. Judy was the one who set Nick free of himself and of the standards that bound him. Judy was his hearth, his rock and the one he could trust more than any other.

"Officer Wilde, we will examine you, too, once we get to the hospital," one of the paramedics, a deer, told him.

"Don't separate me from her," Nick requested, but it came off as more of a demand.

"It wasn't a suggestion, Officer. You need to get checked out," the paramedic said sternly, making Nick aware of the situation that he wasn't in the position to make demands. Nick avoided eye contact with the paramedic for fear of letting his emotions show. Never let them know that they get to you. That was Nick's way. He kissed Judy's soft, furry cheek.

"Carrots, wake up soon… I'm so sorry this had to happen," Nick mumbled close to her face.

"So this is why they say don't mix work and pleasure," the paramedic muttered. Nick shot the deer an angry glare, and the deer responded with an apologetic look and then looked away. Nick turned his attention back to Judy, whose condition remained the same: battered and unconscious. Nick sat in silence for the rest of the ride.

When they got to the hospital, much to Nick's dismay, he and Judy were examined separately. None other than Amber Hopps was helping the doctor do his exam. Amber muttered to him, "I didn't think I'd already be doing this, especially with you and Judy involved."

"We can't afford to die yet; we owe you and Finnick a dinner," Nick tried to crack a joke. It didn't do anything to lift the mood. The two of them had one common thought in the back of their minds and it was constantly consuming them and taking precedence: they were worried about Judy.

"I thought you two were supposed to look out for each other," Amber pointed out with a bitter tone of voice. Nick didn't blame her. He didn't blame Judy—not entirely, anyway. Judy was impulsive; she knew the risk of going alone and went anyway for Kristy's sake and for the sake of Nick's peace of mind. Mostly, Nick blamed himself for letting Judy go alone. He never would be able to forgive himself if Judy didn't make it out of this okay. It wasn't over, nor would it be until his partner had woken up.

"I love her, too, you know…" Nick mumbled. It was all he could muster. Amber's comment washed away any nerve he had left. Suddenly, he felt like the scared little eight-year-old who was hazed out of the Junior Ranger Scouts on his first night. The feeling of being trapped, alone and confined was starting to come back. Was this fear? Was it madness? Order, in itself, was a broken system, but when he was with Judy, it seemed to make so much sense in spite of his own experiences. Now, he was having trouble rationalizing anything. He was too anxious.

"Fortunately, it looks like all of your bones and organs are intact," Dr. Badger informed Nick, though her voice sounded muffled. His thoughts were so far elsewhere that everything around him was an irrelevant blur. "Officer? Did you hear me?"

"How's my mom?" Nick asked, his thoughts back with the real world again.

"She's fine," Amber reported. "She's a little malnourished, so we took her down to the cafeteria earlier. She kept going on about how proud she was of you finding the right path and a nice girl. She's sweet. She's really worried about Judy…"

"Good old Mom…" Nick sighed and closed his eyes to prevent any tears from escaping.

"Do you want to see Officer Hopps?" Dr. Badger offered.

"What…?" Nick asked, hoping it wasn't a joke.

"You might as well. My family is coming as soon as possible, so I'd visit while there's no mile-long line if I were you," Amber advised. Nick rushed out of the room, stopped, and then he came back in.

"Which room?" the fox asked urgently.

"Next door on the left," Amber said as she approached the doorway. She wanted to see Judy, too. She was thankful that Finnick was alright. The last thing she or Nick needed was someone else's condition to worry about on top of Judy's.

Nick rushed into Judy's room to find the rabbit asleep on the bed. In her white hospital gown, she looked like an angel. Nick staggered over to her, grabbed a chair, and sloppily placed it next to her bed before plopping down into it. He gently took her paw and rubbed the back of it with his thumb. He asked her, "Why? Why'd you fight him so recklessly? Did you ever even think about what could have happened to you?"

As he expected, the rabbit gave no answer. She looked so peaceful, sleeping soundly in the bed. Nick hoped that she wasn't in a coma. He hoped that she wouldn't hate him for letting her go alone. He hoped that he could spend the rest of his life with her. He hoped and hoped. She taught him how to have hope and how to hold onto it when times were tough. Hope was like the radiant sun, providing light even through the thickest clouds.

"Carrots, wake up… C'mon, partner, I'm right here. You can do it…" Nick begged, his tears finally spilling.

"She survived because she had on an extra protective vest. The combination of the protective vest we're all used to her wearing and the one she kept hidden absorbed most of the shock, but she's going to wake up in a lot of pain. Knowing my sister, though, she'll tough it out," Amber reported from behind him. The brown-eyed bunny let out a desperate sigh and gave way to tears.

"So she was betting it all on having two vests…" Nick muttered. He couldn't help but chuckle. It was just like Judy to be prepared to do something so incredibly insane. She was never blasé about anything and she had a passion for making the world a better place however she could. He guessed that she wanted to make sure she could keep doing that and wondered if the weight of the additional protective gear slowed her down at all. Nick closed his eyes and focused. He could hear her breathing. Greatness had thrust itself into his life. "I need you, Judy… You're the holder of my heart… You rejuvenate me…" His tears dripped from his face onto hers.

"…Nick…is something wrong…?" Judy's voice spoke softly. Her lip movements were subtle. Her voice was little more than barely audible. "You never call me Judy…"

"Oh, Judy!" Nick exclaimed as he quickly hugged her. "You're okay!"

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! No, I'm not! No, I'm not!" Judy exclaimed as she grimaced in pain.

"Oh, uh, sorry…" Nick sheepishly apologized as he let go of her and gently laid her back down. "You are the craziest, bravest little thing… Dumb bunny, don't scare me like that!"

"Just doing my job!" Judy giggled, trying to ignore the pain that coursed through her body. "What happened to your mom? What about Mr. Bovina?"

"My mom is fine and Mr. Bovina's incarceration is all but guaranteed. Your old friend, Jasmine, and her friends were a big help, giving up as much information as they could in exchange for the possibility of protective custody and a plea deal," Nick informed the purple-eyed bunny.

"Jasmine Hollander?" Amber asked in shock as she approached the duo. "I know that no one's really seen hide or hair of her since high school, but the last thing I expected from her was joining a gang!"

"For her, it was either that or being a standalone. She didn't have the tolerance for solitude that she had been subjected to for years. She just wanted friends," Judy explained. "At least, that's my theory."

"Jack mentioned something just like that when you and I were getting into the ambulance, but I didn't really take the time to process what any of it meant," Nick confirmed Judy's theory. "Now I know."

"Hey, Nick, tell me if this story sounds familiar," Judy suddenly changed the subject. "First ever fox cop writes a love poem and, whoospie, carelessly drops it and she reads it. The fox cop confesses his feelings to the rabbit cop. Then, that poem turns into a romantic weekend getaway in the countryside where, whoopsie number two, a couple hundred of tiny, curious bunnies hound the fox with questions and he was unprepared for the size of her family. Then, once the weekend is gone, the fox and the rabbit embark on an adventure to find the fox's missing mom and, whoopsie number three, he shows that he's letting the situation get to him, but he's brave enough to bury the ghosts of his past and finally put them to rest so that he and the bunny can move toward a bright future together."

"That's a wonderful story, but I don't think I was that transparent," Nick commented.

"With me, you were," Judy reminded the fox.

"You're just that good. What can I say?" Nick slyly said as he kissed the rabbit, who kissed back.

"You love-mammals, you…" Amber giggled. She didn't notice Finnick walk up behind her with a bouquet of roses.

"Nurse?" Finnick spoke up. His deep voice initially startled Amber, who turned around to face him. Her eyes lit up when she saw him. "These are for you. So…dinner at eight, Nick's treat?"

"Sounds good!" Amber exclaimed as she accepted the roses.

"Hey, hey, I need a little more notice than that!" Nick protested. Judy laughed, finding the situation to be ridiculously hilarious.

"By the way, the whole family is coming to see you," Amber warned Judy. "Don't worry, I made them promise that they wouldn't try to get you to give up and go home."

"You're the best twin sister ever," Judy gratefully told Amber.

Within two hours, the entirety of the Hopps clan was crowding into the room. Nick and Finnick did their best to ignore their girlfriends' grandfather when he said that foxes were made by the devil.

"Are you sure you're alright, Bun-Bun?" Bonnie asked worriedly. Kristy was right behind Bonnie. The two of them had talked and become fast friends because they met trying to enter Judy's room and visit with her. The hospital room had become bunny central with three foxes in addition.

"Thank you, Judy, for saving my life and for giving my Nick someone to turn to," Kristy thanked Judy with tears in her eyes. "I'm so blessed and grateful…"

"Mom, I'm fine! There's no need to worry!" Judy insisted. "I had my wonderful boyfriend around when I needed him. You've raised him right, Mrs. Wilde."

"I wasn't there when I should have been…" Nick said. His voice was steeped with regret.

"Things would have gotten worse if he hadn't come when he did," Judy told her parents in spite of Nick's negative commentary.

"She's giving me too much credit; she is the one who made a great opening for me to use to take down the bad guy," Nick argued.

"Are you trying to start a fight, Nick? You did what you had to—what I had trusted you to do. We're both still alive and it didn't get any worse than it was," Judy informed the fox, fed up with him being so hard on himself. "We did it. It's over. We can start a new chapter in our lives!"

"Yeah…" Nick agreed, a smile forming.

"And we'll take every step together," Judy pleasantly proposed.

"We sure will," Nick agreed, still holding her paw. She had his heart in her paws, and he was perfectly alright with that. He loved her with all of his being.

"So what is the next step, Judy?" one of Judy's younger sisters asked her.

"We're going to adopt a kid!" Judy exclaimed gleefully.

"WHAT?!" the entire room gasped.

"We should probably get married before we do that and we should probably wait a while before we discuss marriage!" Nick pointed out to Judy.

"Okay…" Judy sighed and crossed her arms.

"But I never said no," Nick reminded Judy as he kissed her again.

 _ **The end**_

 **Once again, thank you all for sticking with me for this long! I know this is a long story. It's my longest story, chapter-wise. It's almost my most popular story, view-wise! Right now, it's almost three times more viewed than an older well-liked story of mine, AJ's Story. I know that the category has a lot to do with it, but I like to think that this is getting so many views because I've come pretty far as a writer. I look back at some of the stuff I wrote three or four years ago and I wonder what the heck I was thinking.**

 **So the end of this chapter refers to the next Zootopia story idea that I mentioned in the author's note above. Yes, that is my plan. It's an idea I've had since that mission trip I went on back in July. I have a lot of faith in it and I've done a lot of developing with it in my head and I've toyed with the idea a lot with my wonderful friend girlfriend. I don't know when I will get to writing this next story since college life is very busy, especially during the week. I've been blessed to have calm weekends thus far and I hope that they continue so I can keep working on my writing in addition to homework, social time, etc.**

 **Thank you all for reading!**


End file.
